Symphonic
by Nova trinity
Summary: Naruto is having a bad day, his adopted father informs him that he is to have a new room mate. Its the "Sand siblings." A/U, Yaoi, Yuri, and Het. Rating will most likely go up in later chapters. Naru/Gaa
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, here goes a new story, it was one day in the making, three hours in the typing, two minutes in the editing, and one second in the up loading. It is going to have multiple pairings. Yaoi, Yuri, and Het, so if ANYONE does not like the aforementioned (ha-ha) please check to see if you are human then click the back button so that you are not offended. ATM, this is going to be a strong T rating, however it will most likely change in future chapters. At the beginning of the chapters I will post if its got anything in appropriate.**

**Disclaimer****:**_ Naruto and all character's therein are owned by the respective people, NOT ME! (As much as I wish differently)._

_XoXoXoXo_

Life was like a spinning top, sometimes it moved fast, other times it was so slow that it seemed as if it would crash. Giving everyone the ride from hell. Their was more than his fair share of moments, Naruto Uzamaki fumed as his adopted father of six years informed him that he was letting his new "boyfriend" and his three kids move in with them. Naruto was not upset that Iruka had a boyfriend, he was upset that he would have to "share" Iruka with the guy and let three strange kids move in to _HIS_ home and disrupt _HIS_ life. Not to mention, it would cramp his style. Yeah, Naruto was fifteen, and he was just beginning to realize he had a style to his life. It wasn't much, yet it was who he was.

Ever since he had been adopted by Iruka, he had freedom, he had friends that were just his, and most importantly he had Iruka. Now he would be responsible for not only himself but for the "kids" most likely.

He was pouting, he knew it, however he couldn't help it. Iruka just announces today that they would be here in less than an hour, not to visit, hell no, to move in here. As if that gave Naruto any time to think of a place he would rather be other than here. He _could_ go to church with Shikamaru, nah, last time he had went, he had fallen asleep along with Shikamaru, and after, both of them had gotten a ear full from Shikamaru's mom. Kiba was out of town, and Choji had his relatives visiting for the week. So he had no choice other than stay home and meet the "boyfriend" and his "kids."

"What the…" Naruto groaned….

"What is the problem Naruto?" Iruka asked from the opposite sofa.

"Where are they going to stay?"

"Baki will stay with me, Temari in the front bed room, Kankuro in the other one and little Gaara with you. Why do you ask?"

"WHAT?" Naruto stood up so fast that Iruka felt dizzy just watching him. "Why does he have to stay with me? That's why I took the attic for my bedroom, so I could be alone and you would have two guest rooms. Can't he sleep with you guys in the basement? Or how about the couch? If he so much as touches the equipment for the Rejects I'm going to kill him. Better yet, have him sleep on the couch."

"If you don't want to share a room with him, you can sleep on the couch and he can have the attic."

Naruto's eyes seemed to pop out of his head, "This is child abuse."

"Just how old are you Naruto?"

Groaning, Naruto plopped back down on the couch, "Whatever, just make sure he brings his own bed, he can have the corner on the other side of the bathroom. No friggin way is he going to sleep with me."

Chuckling, Iruka said, "I didn't think you would be embarrassed about a little thing like sleeping with another boy."

Naruto turned beet red, "So, it's my bed."

"Now you are acting like a six year old."

"So," Naruto made a sound like a humph, before closing his eyes and looking away.

Naruto had heard of the expression that said the silence was pregnant, his mom used to say that occasionally, it had never made much sense to him before, however now he realized it was true, the silence that followed was indeed pregnant. It felt as if at any minute a time bomb would go off, resulting in the most heinous birth of something nameless that kind of frightened the fifteen year old. The birth of him having to share his life with complete strangers. The only sounds were the ticking of the clock, with each tick, it reminded him that soon "they" would be here.

"I'm hungry." Naruto got up and headed out of the large two story living room. Upstairs, he glared at the doors that led to the two guest rooms and the one that led to Iruka's office. He gave a childish yank on the rope that would pull down for the attic stairs, stomping up the stairs, he felt the urge to destroy his large bedroom.

He couldn't understand fully his rage at how he was being treated, he just knew that he needed to vent it before it caused too much trouble with him and he ended up making everyone hate him. Making short work of the posters on his walls then all of his bedding, he was feeling better.

Iruka was about to go upstairs to check on his nephew whom he had adopted after the untimely death of his sister, when a black car pulled up outside the house. Putting on his best fake smile, he went out to greet Baki and his three kids.

Baki was getting out of the car, Iruka approached him and gave him a quick kiss. "My nephew is in one of his moods."

Baki quirked his eyebrow and his expression showed the sympathy. "Well my brood is more than a little upset with me today too."

Eighteen year old Tamari rolled her eyes at Baki and said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah… That's all I have heard."

Kankuro went to push his older sibling away before he grunted at her comment, "Its not my fault you got dumped."

"I wouldn't have gotten dumped if it hadn't been for you Kankuro."

"Well you need to be honest with your boyfriends right Gaara?"

Gaara blushed, he was the youngest sibling at fifteen, Iruka had hoped that Naruto would take an interest in the quiet shy boy. However it was like asking a pig to fly. Which everyone in their right mind knew was impossible.

As they entered the house, they all heard, "That damn child abuser… why the hell do I have to give up my life? Take that…" All this commotion was followed by metallic clanging along with a muffled bass sound. Looking up just in time, Kiba's drum set that Iruka had gotten for Naruto's friend, rolled down from the attic opening in the loft that overlooked the entry and living room, it rolled all the way down to the main floor and landed in a noisy heap at their feet.

"Hmm…" Iruka cleared his throat, "That's just my nephew, he's rearranging his room." Iruka's eyes never once left the opening to the attic, "I think maybe we should go see what he has done to it in only ten minutes."

Everyone could feel the apprehension as they all went up to the attic.

Can anyone say Tornado Uzamaki? Well that is what Naruto was, his room was the after affects from world war three.

When Naruto saw the others, he grinned lopsided and scratched his head, "Hiya, I'm Naruto."

Kankuro whistled and said, "Love how you 'cleaned' your room."

"The word Iruka used was 'decorate.'" Temari sighed in exasperation.

"Heh… if you don't like it, you can go somewhere else to sleep."

"Naruto," Iruka was trying desperately to keep his calm.

"What?" Naruto grinned up at him, "Its true, if they don't like it then they can leave."

"NARUTO. IF. YOU. DON'T. CLEAN. THIS. MESS. UP. NOW…"

Naruto's blue eyes opened wind, shock and trepidation filling him. "Fine"

Iruka left the room followed by Baki, Temari and Kankuro. Naruto glanced over at Gaara and grinned, he looked like the cat that swallowed the canary, even though he was in trouble. "Hi!" It was like day and night, his attitude. Naruto had vented all his frustration on the helpless room and now he was feeling better. That's when it hit him, if Iruka had given him the chance to adjust, say a couple of days, to the fact that strangers were moving in, he would have been fine with it. In fact if it hadn't been for Iruka's lack of communication, then none of this would have happened, and Naruto wouldn't be having to clean this mess up. What he failed to realize was that he would have thrown fit just as intense, and would have complained about it all the time. "What's your name?" he asked the quiet red headed boy.

"Gaara…"

"Well Gaara, looks like you are my roommate." Absently Naruto tossed the red head the broom, "Don't touch anything up here, its all mine…" looking thoughtfully at the boy, Naruto added, "Hmm, I guess that means you are mine now too…." His chuckle was the only sound, and Naruto wondered if the boy even knew what a joke was.

He was about to tell Gaara that it had all been a joke when Gaara replied, "Okay."

Mentally, Naruto had to remind himself to close his jaw, what was this kids deal? Whatever it was, Naruto vowed he would have fun with him. "Well then, as my new item, you have to stay with me and take care of me." Lazily Naruto plopped down on the bed that was half on the frame and half on the floor. "I wont be a slave driver, yet if you could go downstairs and get us a Dr. Pepper or a Mountain Dew, I would appreciate it. Then we can get to work cleaning the mess that Iruka caused."

Once the petite red head had left, Naruto laughed, he was going to milk this and have a lot of fun with the cute boy. Never once realizing he had just thought of Gaara as "cute."

Groaning at the mess that Iruka had "caused," Naruto was about to reach for his favorite stuffed animal that looked like a fox at one point in time, when the red headed boy came back with two soda's in his hands. Sitting up on the destroyed bed, Naruto eyed said boy and asked, "So what do you think about having to move here?"

Gaara shrugged his thin shoulders and said, "I guess its okay."

"Hmm…" Naruto started to pick up the mess that he had made. "I think its unfair, I mean none of us know each other and to just throw us together like this, there is something mental going on with Iruka. For all I know you could be Charles Manson and be planning on killing me in my sleep."

For the first time that day, Gaara smiled. He was even more charming when he smiled. "You could be one too."

"True, I could have killed my family and then moved in with my uncle, and now I am looking for some new victims." The absurdity of it made Naruto laugh, if he had been a deranged killer, he would kill Iruka first for what he had thrown onto him, then he would concentrate on the others.

Hearing someone climb up the steps to the attic, Naruto made it look like he was more busy than he actually was. He grabbed a bag and was busy throwing trash in it when he heard the lazy drawl of his best friend, "Did you know someone broke Kiba's drums again?"

Smiling up at Shikamaru, Naruto explained, "It was Iruka's fault."

Shikamaru didn't say anything to that, he knew that whenever Naruto said something was Iruka's fault, it usually meant that it was Naruto's fault. "Hmm, you redecorated your room?" He looked around, "Kinda reminds me of my place."

"Well Iruka didn't like it so…."

Shikamaru looked at the red headed boy that was helping, or should I say doing all the work for Naruto. "Hi, I'm Shikamaru."

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled, "Shikamaru, that's my new room mate Gaara, Gaara, that's the guitarist for my band and my best friend, Shikamaru."

"Hi." Gaara's voice was so soft that you could barely hear it.

Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly, for a split second pity filled them, "Well you have your hands full."

"Yeah…" Naruto said.

"Not you," Shikamaru chuckled.

"Oi!" Naruto threw some trash at his best friend.

Shikamaru easily side stepped the trash and waved, "I'll be waiting downstairs."

"Oi, get back here." Naruto yelled after him.

"Hurry up." Shikamaru said before disappearing into the realms of the large modern home.

"Idiot Shikamaru." Naruto grumbled, "Now I gotta hurry or he'll leave."

Naruto was thankful that Gaara had decided to help him, he wasn't so bad after all. He still resented the fact that he had to share his life with someone else, yet he thought he could get used to the quiet boy.

"All done." Naruto gently put his prized fox on his bed, "Now we can go out."

"I need to use the bathroom." Gaara said from the corner.

"Uh…" Naruto knew that if Gaara went into the bathroom, they would have more work to do, "Why not use the one downstairs? It's a better bathroom."

Shrugging his shoulders, Gaara allowed Naruto to lead him downstairs. Naruto showed him to the bathroom, then waited for him at the top of the stairs that led down to the main part of the house.

The living room and the entry were both empty as Naruto looked down from the balcony, he didn't know why exactly he was waiting for his new room mate. He should just leave him and go in search of Shikamaru. Its not like they were friends or anything. He was about to leave when Gaara came out of the bathroom, his expression was priceless when he realized that Naruto had waited for him.

"You ready?" Naruto asked as they went down the circular stairs.

"Yeah."

It was in the kitchen that they found Shikamaru, he was sitting at the counter next to Kankuro and talking to Iruka and Baki. Temari was sitting at the table looking even more upset. It was not Naruto's business so he jumped up on the counter in front of Shikamaru and waited for Iruka to acknowledge his presence.

"What is it Naruto?"

"I'm done. Can I go to Gai's place?"

"Fine," Iruka said, "Take Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara with you and show them around while you are at it."

"Great idea." Baki agreed.

Temari rolled her eyes before saying, "As long as I can drive."

Baki handed her the keys. "Have fun."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Naruto, it is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. If I owned the Naruto name do you honestly think I would be posting these stories on fan fiction dot net? I think if I was Masashi, I would have the plot be a yaoi, and Itachi would still be alive. Also I agree, Iruka and Baki are in fact CRACK... however this person likes IrukaXanyone, so... does that make Iruka a man whore? (Oh MY!)_

**XoXoXoXo**

In the car, Temari and Kankuro were arguing in the front seat while Naruto was trying to give directions to his favorite shop. In frustration, he sighed and said, "We were suppose to turn left…. Uh, back a block."

"When they get like this, its hard to tell them anything." Gaara softly said to the right of Naruto.

On his left was Shikamaru, he ignored everything and let the siblings bicker. It was too troublesome to try to interrupt. "What are you going to tell Kiba about his drums?"

Being reminded of the drums, Naruto gulped audibly before he said, "I'll just tell him that I will buy him another one. Yeah, that's what I will do. A better set than this one. Anyway, I have a week before Kiba returns."

"Hmm." Shikamaru nodded his head. He would not remind Naruto that Kiba would be returning tomorrow. "It might work, however this will be the fourth time."

The car jerked to a stop causing the three that was in the back seat to nearly get whiplash. "Get in the back. NOW!" Temari gritted out between clenched teeth.

"I was just stating the obvious." Kankuro stated as he got out of the car. He didn't give it any thought as he opened the door next to Shikamaru, "I think you should get up front with the shrew."

"Do you want me to leave your lazy ass here?" Temari threatened.

The seating arrangements got rearranged quickly, Shikamaru giving brief directions to Temari in the front seat, Kankuro, Naruto and Gaara in the back seat. Other than Shikamaru's directions, the inside of the car was deadly quiet for the five minute ride to Gai's Place.

"Gai's Place." Temari read the green sign as she turned off the car. "Thrift Store Extraordinaire." A brief pause as she digested the meaning to the sign. "You mean we are going to a thrift store?"

"Yep." Naruto grinned at the three siblings as he led the way into the store. "Neji…." Standing in front of them looking thoroughly embarrassed was Neji, his long brown hair loosely tied behind his back.

Kankuro read out loud the name tag, "Hi my name is Neji, where the power of youth never ends." Kankuro nearly laughed out loud, "Well 'Neji,' I am Kankuro."

"See Neji, Naruto did show up," a squeaky voice came from deeper in the store, "you were worried for nothing."

"Lee," Naruto grinned, "when did Gai Sensei hire Neji?"

"Just today." Bush brows rounded the corner, "Now Neji has the full power of youth. He was a little concerned though when you hadn't gotten here, he wanted you to see his new look."

Naruto scrutinized Neji as Neji snorted at how Lee said that. "Wow Neji, you really look good."

The name tag was about half the size of Neji's chest, it was pale green with dark green lettering, next to Neji's name was a grinning picture of Gai with the famous thumbs up symbol. It was identical to Lee's.

"I wanna work here now too." Naruto said. Neji blushed and turned around to show Naruto his back, trying to hide his shame. "Or at least get me a name tag just like Neji's."

"Not to worry Naruto, Gai Sensei thought you would want to be just like Neji," Lee was saying, "So he got you one too."

"Really?" Naruto grinned, "Where's Gai? I want to thank him."

"He's in the back," Neji finally addressed Naruto, "He is unloading the new merchandise that he got yesterday."

"What is it?" Naruto absently began to follow Neji towards the back, leaving the others up front with Lee.

Shikamaru watched Naruto walk away, those two looked good together, however Shikamaru kept his thoughts to himself as Lee introduced himself to the new siblings that Naruto had failed to do.

"So," Temari was saying, "what exactly is this place?"

"It's the best thrift store in town." Lee enthusiastically replied.

"Good job Lee." Gai came up to the small crowd at the front of the store. Glancing around he asked, "Where's my new employee and Naruto?"

"Gai Sensei," Lee said, "They went to go find you."

"Ah, we must have passed each other without realizing it." Gai smiled.

Naruto was following Neji deeper into the over crowded store, occasionally glancing at a item, never loosing sight of Neji.

"Why are you following me?" Neji asked.

"Because you look real cool with that name tag." Naruto didn't realize how idiotic he sounded, he just wanted to be honest with Neji.

Neji made a humph sound and paused while Naruto picked up a stuffed raccoon that was still in the original cardboard cover it had when it was brand new so many odd years ago. Naruto liked it, it kind of reminded him of his new room mate. On a whim he decided he would buy it for Gaara, he didn't know why.

"It even talks." Neji approached Naruto. "Push the front paw." Neji showed him, and sure enough, the raccoon gruffly said 'Lets play.'

Laughing, Naruto pushed it again and it said, 'I want to be your friend.' Looking up into Neji's pale eyes at the raccoon's words, something stirred within him and Naruto knew that he wanted to be friends with the refined Neji. "I want to get this."

Neji nodded his head, he was about to tell Naruto the price when Gai and the others came around the corner. The two boys glanced over, a stuffed raccoon the only thing between them.

"Here you are," Gai said, "we were getting worried about you two."

"Yeah," Shikamaru dryly said, "we were going to get the national guard to go find you, though Gai said he could."

"Neji," Lee complained teasingly, "you always monopolize Naruto. Let me see one of my best friends."

Snorting, Neji backed away, "Whatever." He headed towards the back once more.

"Wait Neji," Naruto said, "Go to the Café with us."

The Café was a little place across the street that served the best ramen in town. Looking over his shoulder, Neji grinned slightly, "Sure, just let me change."

Naruto grinned and handed the raccoon to Gai, "How much do I owe you for this?"

Gai put his hand in his chin and gave it some serious consideration. "Hmm… I don't remember. Lee do you know how much this raccoon is?"

"Sorry Gai Sensei, it was Neji who brought that in this morning."

"Wow… Neji knew I would like it." Naruto gushed, "I'll give you a hundred dollars for it."

"Sold." Gai stuck his thumb out.

"Come on Naruto," Shikamaru said, "Lets get going to the Café."

After paying for the raccoon, Naruto handed it to Gaara and said, "I have to wait for Neji, you go on ahead."

Gaara looked down at the raccoon and then up at Naruto, "What-"

"It's for you." Naruto said kind of embarrassed at giving the boy a stuffed animal. "It made me think of you."

Gaara blushed and bowed his head in respect, "Thank you."

The two boys were looking at each other, one with confusion, the other with something that Naruto couldn't understand, when Neji rejoined them.

"Ready to go?" Neji eyed the red head, he had overheard what they had said to each other, for a moment he wondered just what the other boy meant to Naruto. Then he mentally shook himself, he was above being jealous over anyone, leave that to his little cousin Hinata.

"Yeah!" Naruto led the way for Neji and Gaara to follow, "RAMEN!"

The small café was crowded with everyone. Ino and Sakura were both sitting on either side of an emo Sasuke, at the counter. One of the four booths had Kankuro and Shikamaru on one side, and on the other side was Lee and Temari. Another booth had a strange guy who kept looking up at Sasuke, sitting across from him was a guy wearing a pair of glasses. At another table was Gai and Kakashi, who was Gai's 'eternal rival' according to Gai.

"I guess that we get the last booth then." Neji sat down with his back to the door.

Naruto sat down across from him and scooted over so that Gaara could sit down next to him.

When Sasuke looked over, Naruto grinned, trying to get Sasuke to get out of his emo look, "Three Ramens' please Sasuke."

"What to drink?" Sasuke wanted to know.

Naruto looked at the other two, "What do you guys want?"

"Iced tea." Neji said.

"Me too." Gaara looked around the place. It was small and cozy. The décor consisted of plants of various sizes and shapes.

"Three Iced teas please Sasuke." Naruto called over to his child hood friend that had somehow drifted away from him over the past year.

Sasuke nodded his head and within a few minutes placed the food and tea's in front of the trio. "Here you go Naruto."

"Thanks," He wasted no time, he dug into the food like he was a starved homeless person.

"Here you go Naruto." Gai leaned over and handed Naruto the name tag.

He was about to thank him when from his pocket came the theme music to Halloween. You know that song, the opening music to one of the best horror movies of all time, everyone in the café was quiet as it dawned on Naruto just who it was that was calling him. "Shit!, Iruka found the bathroom I bet." Terror filled his blue eyes as the music continued for a minute. With his hands shaking, he put the cell phone on the table, now deathly afraid of even touching it. Not even two minutes later the music started again. All the eyes of everyone in the cafe were on Naruto, who was just staring at the cell phone, his heart was beating faster than the music.

After the cell phone went silent, it was less than a minute this time before it started up once more. Over at the counter Sakura was growing impatient, "Just answer it Naruto, or I will answer it for you."

"Temari," Shikamaru was saying as the music only paused for five seconds this time, "I think its time to go home."

"Yes Temari," Naruto added in a shaky voice, "I need to be at least close to home before I get in trouble."

After they paid for the food, and piled up in the car the Halloween theme ended to be replaced by the Jason aka Friday the Thirteenth theme music, indicating a new text from Iruka, a few pauses in them, however Naruto counted a total of seven text's before a normal ring tone for normal calls came through. It was the one that said, in Naruto's own voice, "It's safe to answer, this is not Iruka."

Shikamaru just knew who it was when Naruto said, "Shikamaru, its your mom. What's your mom calling me for?"

Shikamaru was tempted to tell Naruto who he thought it was, however it would be too troublesome trying to explain it to him.

"Hello? Naruto Uzamaki speaking. How may I help you this fine day?"

"YOU MAY HELP ME BY GETTING YOUR ASS HOME." Naruto had to put the phone away from his ear, "IF YOU ARE NOT HOME IN FIVE MINUTES YOUR ASS IS GRASS." a slight pause before Iruka calmly added, "By the way, tell Temari to drive safely."

Everyone heard what Iruka said. Gulping, Naruto slowly closed the phone. "I think it's safe to say everyone heard that."

What Naruto never realized at the time was that if he had answered the phone when it first rang, Iruka wouldn't have been as angry and probably would have let Naruto clean the bathroom later when he decided to get home. However a guilty conscience was not something Naruto liked and he tended to ignore it. Sometimes he knew that everything was going to be blown out of proportion, and so he tended to add to it by delaying.

Temari pulled the car up by the driveway, Gaara opened the door for Naruto to get out. Dejectedly, he got out of the car and headed up to the house. Thinking he was alone, he absently kicked the gravel that was the front yard. Like a lot of people, they had stones for the yard and not grass.

Once a couple of years ago, Naruto had gotten tired of always having to go to Shikamaru's to go swimming in the summer, so he had went to Wal-Mart and bought one of those pools that you just pumped up the sides and filled them with water. It was a fairly large pool, and when he had gotten home he had ignored the directions, it resulted in a flooded back yard then a flooded basement, and the pool had slid down the hill in the back. When Iruka had found out, Naruto had gotten grounded for a week.

Another time that Iruka had been upset with him was when he had first had Shikamaru stay the night when they had first become friends. Bored, the two had found the opening to the attic, they had spent hours up there rummaging around in old boxes, only to turn the TV on later, to see on the news the reporter standing in front of his house discussing how the "two boys went missing." Both Shikamaru and Naruto had been grounded for a month, they were not allowed to see each other. Even though they were together and instant celebrities in school, and the fact that they would walk home together due to living across the street from one another.

Those were the only times that Iruka had been really upset with Naruto. Now however, he had a sinking suspicion that Iruka was just as upset.

"I hope he isn't too upset." Naruto heard from behind him. Turning around, he saw the red head, the haunted green eyes, and realized that he was grateful that Gaara was with him.

"Gaara," Naruto gave him a genuine smile, "what are you doing here?"

"It's my room now too." Gaara informed the blond.

Feeling better at having Gaara at his side, Naruto opened the front door, they walked into the house to face the irate Iruka side by side.

"Upstairs NOW!" Iruka nearly shouted, he tried to drag Naruto away from Gaara and get him up the stairs. Gaara however calmly followed. "Gaara, this is Naruto's mess, let him deal with it."

"Sorry," Gaara softly objected, "I am as responsible for it. I told him that I would clean it when we got back. It's the bathroom right?"

Both Iruka and Naruto stopped, they turned their heads as if one, to stare at Gaara with jaws hanging. Iruka recovered first, "You know about the bathroom?"

Gaara only nodded his head, never once did he look away from Naruto.

Naruto cleared his throat, trying vainly to pull his thoughts together. He was mildly in shock, no one had ever stuck up for him. Well no one other than Iruka, however Iruka was family.

Iruka glanced past Gaara at Baki, "Well?"

"Gaara can help clean it up and whatever punishment you had in mind for Naruto can be in force on Gaara too." Baki put his hand on Gaara's slender shoulder. "Gaara go on and help."

"Fine," Iruka sighed, his anger dissipating, "Naruto will be grounded from his friends for a week, that includes Gai's Place. Am I understood? Oh and another thing you need to change your cell phones greeting for incoming calls."

Baki chuckled, "Yeah, it confused us."

Grinning from relief, Naruto sheepishly said, "What you don't like my message to leave a voice mail?"

"Hell no." Iruka grumbled.

Laughing, Naruto nodded his head before going all the way up to his attic bedroom. Once they were alone, Gaara asked, "What's the message say?"

"Call the number." Naruto dialed the number on the land line, his cell automatically started the Halloween theme music. He handed the phone to Gaara so that Gaara could hear it.

"Hello?" Naruto's disembodied voice was in the receiver, while the real Naruto was chuckling to himself, trying to keep quiet so Gaara could hear. A pause was heard, followed by Naruto's disembodied voice say, "I can't hear you. What are you trying to say?" Another pause, finally the voice in the phone told Gaara to just leave a message after the beep.

For the first time in a long time Gaara softly chuckled, when Naruto heard it, he vowed that it would soon become common to hear that soft musical chuckle. Without realizing it, today marked the change in Naruto's thinking. He had started the day oblivious to the fact that he would soon have a new room mate, when he had found out about it, he had literally thrown a temper tantrum. Yet when the day was coming near the end, he realized that he just might like having a room mate like Gaara.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I am not the wonderful creator of Naruto, I am just borrowing all the lovely characters for my amusement. **_If I was Masashi Kishimoto I would make it obvious that Naruto and Gaara are a couple along with Sai and Neji and Temari and Shikamaru. (And sometimes Suigetsu and Sasuke as well as Ino and Sakura). Also I know it's crack about Baki and Iruka... I just felt like a change though._

**My view of Kankuro:**_ If you don't want to know how I feel, just skip this. I adore Kankuro, he is my third favorite character out of all the ones I pick on. If he was real I would so fall in love with him, I don't think he gets enough love, so that is why I play with him in most of my stories. No offense to other Kankuro fans out there. I also took the liberty of making Kankuro and Temari twins Temari was born at eleven fifty five p.m. and Kankuro was born at twelve oh one a.m. thus she rules the house… _

**XoXoXoXo**

Temari and Kankuro had dropped Shikamaru off at his house and stayed to meet his parents after Gaara and Naruto had left. Kankuro did not want to go back yet, too many run ins with Baki had left a lasting impression on the twins from Suna. After they realized it was safe for them, they headed back.

Iruka and Baki were both sitting in the living room watching a talk show, "So what was the deal with Gaara and Naruto?" Temari asked. She was thankful that Kankuro was keeping quiet.

"They got grounded for a week." Baki stated.

"Hmm." Temari sat down on the couch.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Kankuro said.

"Kankuro…" Temari threatened without saying anything else. She knew what he was going to go do.

"Don't worry, Tem." Kankuro smiled.

Snorting, unladylike, Temari said nothing as she watched her brother go up the stairs. That idiot, she thought to herself, she could see him just by looking up at the balcony. And sure enough, he pretended to be a ninja and snuck up to the attic, she couldn't help the laugh that escaped. Damn, he was not good at being stealthy.

If he had looked around, he would have realized that everyone could see him. Glancing over at Baki though, Temari noticed how he was oblivious to everything other than what was right in front of him, aka Iruka. A house full of idiots, that was Temari's curse. The worse curse in all of the world, straight from the devils mouth to her life.

"What the hell?" Kankuro came running down the stairs indignantly.

"What is it?" Baki and Iruka both asked.

Temari just rolled her eyes as if to bring the point home about the curse.

"How come whenever I got grounded I had to give up my puppets?"

"What's that have to do with anything?" Baki looked mildly curious, Iruka was full blown curious.

"Gaara and Naruto are up their watching DVD's" Kankuro nearly whined.

Baki coughed, while Iruka shrugged his shoulders, "They are grounded for one week. Is any of their friends here?"

"The two words, Gaara and friends do not go together." Kankuro snorted, "So that's all they are grounded from?" He seemed even more upset.

Baki spoke before Iruka could, "They also can't go to Gai's place."

"What the fuck…" Kankuro sat down next to his twin, "Gaara is not grounded then."

"Idiots…" Temari softly said.

"What?" Kankuro stretched his legs out and watched the TV, not really caring about the way Temari rolled her eyes at him. "Oh look, some kid went up in a hot air balloon alone where is the stupid parents? Just like that time when some kids got "kidnapped" from the front yard."

"Yeah," Temari laughed at the memory, "Weren't the two kids up in the attic or something?"

Kankuro laughed as well, "Yeah, and they were waving at the cameras from up stairs. What idiotic parenting."

"Yeah, if we had done that, Baki would have grounded us to death and tanned our hides."

"Come to think of it didn't it happen here in Konoha?"

"Yeah, in a place…" Temari's voice trailed off as she started to giggle harder.

"What is it?" Kankuro demanded to know what was so funny.

All Temari could do was laugh harder, clutching her side, and shakily pointing a slender finger at Iruka.

Iruka started to laugh now, he was not one to tell that horrid story, yet now that Temari had guessed it, he would not deny it.

"What's so funny Temari?" Kankuro looked real upset, which caused Temari to laugh even harder at his expression. "Fine just keep it to yourself, see if I care."

"Oh… Kankuro…" Temari tried to get a grip on her laughter, "It's… Iruka here…"

Kankuro looked from Iruka and back to his sister, "I don't get it."

"Idiots never do…" She mumbled, which caused her to laugh even harder.

Iruka felt pity for the teen, "The 'kid' you saw who got kidnapped and was later found in the attic, was none other than Naruto with Shikamaru."

For almost a minute Kankuro had a look of confusion on his face, as it digested though, he started to laugh. "Oh my god. That was you?"

"Embarrassingly enough, yes."

"So how did you punish Naruto?" Morbid curiosity prodded Kankuro to ask.

"Him and Shikamaru couldn't go to each others house for a month." Iruka stated, "Although I found out that they continued seeing each other at school and on the weekends by 'playing basketball' in the park with all his friends."

"What?" Kankuro snorted, the laughter fading faster than imaginable. "Is that all the punishment that Naruto got? Gee, he had it made."

"You need to realize," Iruka said in his defense, "Naruto is a very social child, he makes friends faster than you can shake a stick. He is one of those rare people that can brighten the darkest days. In fact when his parents were killed, he hardly cried."

"What happened to them?" Temari was curious now.

"They were on there way home from a vacation in the Keys when the plane they were in crashed." Iruka seemed sad, "At first I didn't want the responsibility of taking care of my step sisters son, as you can tell though, he grew on me. He is loud at times, a troublemaker, and just plain idiotic. I don't know how he will ever grow up to run the company once he reaches twenty one."

Temari nodded sympathetically, when her own parents had died it had been devastating for Kankuro and herself, Gaara though had not been fazed. He had witnessed the murder, and had been in therapy for about three months, although she doubted he had benefited from it. At times she wondered if Gaara even was capable of loving someone, even when he had been a baby, he didn't seem to love anyone. She knew that he cared, cause she would see him looking sad on occasion, love though was just too deep of an emotion for him to manage though. At least that was her opinion.

**XoXoXoXo**

Upstairs, Gaara had just put in the movie House of a Thousand Corpses. Naruto had never seen it, and was munching on the ramen when the main actress, who happened to be Rob Zombies wife, did this creepy laugh. With the ramen not yet to his mouth, Naruto involuntarily dropped it on his lap, jumping up and colliding with Gaara.

"Sorry." Naruto mumbled.

"It's okay."

They both settled down to watch the movie once more, by the end of it, Naruto had wormed his way to sitting nearly under Gaara. That laugh haunting him. _hehehehe….._

Just too creepy…

Naruto got up, he went into the now clean bathroom and turned the water on in the large tub, adding the bath salt that Sai had recommended. Jasmine permeated the air, with a hint of lilac. Picking up the phone, he dialed Sai's number, Sai answered on the second ring.

Sai was a good friend of Naruto's, ever since Sasuke had literally abandoned him, he had started hanging out with the artistic guy. It was common knowledge that Sai was gay, in fact, he had a serious crush on Neji. The one he liked though had continually turned the sweet guy down, coming up with lame ass excuses.

In the room, Gaara was playing a video game, one of Naruto's Final Fantasy games. So Naruto left the door open, not thinking twice as he slowly got undressed. Realizing he had forgotten a towel though, he left his boxers on and went to the closet to retrieve the large towel that he favored.

"Naruto-kun," Sai was the only one to use that nickname for Naruto. "How was your day today?"

"Not bad," Naruto put the towel down on the hook by the tub. "I got grounded, for a week I can't see any of my friends."

"What did you do this time?"

"It wasn't my fault, Iruka made me mad, so I trashed the room."

"Well that should be easy for you, at least its not for a month, that would suck, you have to do the return to school youth concert."

"Yeah I know. The band wont be able to practice for a week anyway cause Kiba is out of town."

"Well guess who I saw coming out of the mall a little while ago holding hands."

"Who?"

"Sasuke and Suigetsu."

"Really? Doesn't Suigetsu go to Central?"

"Yeah, well I think Sasuke is hiding it from everyone. Isn't he your best friend?"

"He was, till something happened, I don't know what, we just hardly speak to each other now. I know, it sucks." Naruto had gotten in the tub, and was now relaxing, with his eyes closed and his head back against the edge. "I hate to change the subject, yet you will never guess who I saw looking gorgeous today."

"Who?"

"Neji…He is working at Gai's place."

Sai squealed on the phone, before saying, "How did he look? Like the sex god that he is?"

Snorting, Naruto said, "I don't think he is a sex god," when he imagined a sex god, his mind conjured up a red headed green eyed silhouette of someone. "I think he is cute though."

"So I should be jealous of you."

"As if…" Naruto sighed, "Neji is not my type. And on top of that, I am not gay."

"Whatever, so give me the details." Sai ignored the fact that Naruto denied his sexuality, even though Sai knew that Naruto was floating down the river of denial.

"He has the name tag and it suits him."

"He's wearing my design…" Sai trailed off dreamily. "So what did he do?"

"We went to the café with him."

"Who is we?"

"Lets see, oh yeah, I forgot to tell you Iruka has a new boyfriend that moved in here. He has three kids, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. Well it was them three, Gai, Lee, Shikamaru, Neji and myself. Sasuke was there so you must have seen him when he had left work."

"So tell me about the three new additions to the family." Sai wanted to gauge if he should be jealous or not.

"Temari, I think needs a boyfriend, don't worry, she wont try for Neji. Kankuro, well I don't know much about him other than the fact that he is pretty funny. Gaara is cool though, he is my room mate, never thought I would enjoy having someone around, I don't mind him though. At least so far."

"Sounds sweet… could you possibly…"

"Don't even start."

Sai chuckled, "Oh yeah, you are not bent."

"No I am not." His cheeks were flaming, he was blushing. Mortified, he tried to change the subject. "So how was your day? Anything interesting happen while you were at the mall?"

"Don't change the subject Naruto-kun."

"What ever are you talking about?"

"You know damn well what I am talking about."

"Oh, look at the time." Naruto opened his eyes, "I gotta go."

"No you don't." Sai challenged.

"Oh… Look at this would you?" Naruto sighed, "Gaara wants to take a bath now. I really need to get out so he can."

"Have him join you."

"What the …" Naruto stood up fully naked, water dripping from him.

Sai was calling Naruto's bluff, for Gaara was still sitting on the couch, not having moved. "I don't think he would want to join me for a bath." In fact Naruto could hear the battle music for Final Fantasy ten.

"So what does this room mate look like?" Sai inquired.

"He's not bad looking," Naruto got out of the tub, "I do have to go Sai, in fact," he was heading towards the couch that Gaara was sitting on, "why don't I let Gaara tell you himself that he wants my help." He handed the phone to Gaara who just looked at it. "Tell him that you want me out of the bathroom so that you can take your bath ok?"

Gaara swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, trying desperately to not look at Naruto, he did catch the most wonderful view though of the blond boy. The image burned through his brain and caused his heart beat to quicken, he had to take deep breaths just to calm his breathing, he felt if he didn't he would hyperventilate.

"Hello?" Gaara softly said into the phone.

Naruto absently went back into the bathroom, showing his backside to a still flustered red head.

"Don't you dare hurt my little Naruto-kun." Sai told the still shocked Gaara. "He is a sweet guy that needs someone that will devote himself to him. If you ever hurt him, I will take my time to torture you. Don't think I can't."

"Uh," Gaara was calming down from the sight of Naruto's perfect ass. "I don't think he swings that way."

"Don't fool yourself. He does and he will soon realize it himself. Just don't hurt him when he does realize it."

"What if I don't swing that way?" Gaara asked, even though he knew he did.

"That would be perfect then." Sai said, "Well I guess I will meet you soon enough. Give Naruto-kun my love. Sayonara."

Gaara held the phone, mulling over what the other person had said to him. So, he thought to himself, chances are that Naruto was at least bi-sexual. He couldn't believe how much the blond boy affected him, and to see said boy in his birthday suit had been like a blow to Gaara's body. He couldn't help but to respond. Damn his thoughts, they would get him in trouble if Naruto knew how much just the sight of him could make him ache for wanting to touch him. He could see the headlines now, fifteen year old gets killed by blunt force trauma to the brain after making advancing moves on his crush who didn't reciprocate said feelings.

Naruto left the bathroom wearing his sweat pants that he liked to sleep in. "Do you need help with the game?" Naruto sat down next to Gaara, ignorant on how the closeness was affecting the red head. "Or did you want to watch another movie?"

"You can play the game," Gaara handed the controller to Naruto, "I think I will take a shower."

"Okay, the towels are in the closet." the blond curled up on the sofa in front of the large HDTV and commenced playing the game. "Once you get out we can watch another movie."

Gaara nodded his head and headed to the bathroom after retrieving a towel, not looking forward to the cold shower that he needed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:**_ If I owned Naruto, I would have it be a Shonen-Ai, sadly, according to everything I have seen it is only a Shonen. However to look on the bright side, Gaara does have the Ai on his forehead. If I owned Naruto, I would not have killed off Itachi (Grr at Masashi Kishimoto for doing that), Neji would fall in love with Sai, and Sasuke would be a man whore… lol._

_I also do not own the song used in this chapter, it is owned by whoever wrote it, not me enjoy..._

**Rating Change:**_** I am going to have some minor yuri and a hint of yaoi in this chapter. Also some het starting now too. If you are offended by this then please DO NOT READ! I also will have some cross dressing in this story, don't worry though it goes with the plot. Not yet a M rating...**_

The week of being grounded had been uneventful, it didn't bother Naruto cause he had made friends with his room mate, so he was able to goof off with him. It did bother Gaara though due to the fact that he had a huge crush on Naruto that seemed to grow every day. That first night was the hardest for Gaara so far. In the middle of the night, Naruto had woke up screaming, Gaara who had been on the sofa asleep, woke up and followed the screaming blond all the way downstairs and into the basement. Following them had been a worried Temari and a grumpy Kankuro.

Naruto had thrown open Iruka's bedroom door to the sight of Baki and Iruka half dressed making out on top of the large bed. "Gaara…" Naruto mumbled still half asleep.

Iruka looked over at all four teens and blushed, "What about Gaara?"

"Otis killed him." Naruto mumbled, "Then Temari turned into Baby and started doing that creepy laugh…. Hehehehe…" Naruto tiredly plopped down on the floor, "When I tried to wake up Kankuro, he morphed into Tiny and started to chase me…" his voice trailed off.

Kankuro laughed, "So you watched those Rob Zombie movies?"

Naruto was curling up on the floor, starting to drift back to sleep. "I better get him back to bed." Iruka went to get the blond.

"We will take him." Gaara said, he felt bad that he had caused the nightmare. Albeit unintentionally that it was, he still felt as if it was due to him.

Iruka had watched as Gaara hoisted Naruto to stand up on his feet.

Once back up in the attic bedroom, Naruto had literally pulled the red head into bed with him, snuggling up to him while mumbling how he liked his red hair. In other words, Gaara got very little sleep due to the close proximity. And when he did manage to drift off to sleep, the blond would roll over and press up to the warmth of the other body, jolting Gaara wide awake once more.

The following day brought Kiba, he was upset to say the least about his drums, when Naruto promised to replace them, he was placated somewhat. When Iruka saw the drummer, he chased him out of the house telling him that Naruto "couldn't play." To which Naruto giggled and Kiba went running away.

So to say that Naruto did not enjoy his "punishment" would have been a understatement. Iruka had taken him and Gaara to the music store and bought the most expensive drums they had.

Kankuro and Temari had started work at the posh restaurant that Iruka owned, Temari as a hostess and Kankuro as a bus boy. He quit that very night after finding out that the tips that he was finding on the tables were to go to the waitress and not him. He reasoned that all the waitress did was bring the food to the tables. He did the dirty work, he cleaned up the messy tables after the rude customers left. And if said rude customers didn't like the food or service, they left the messiest tables.

When Naruto found out that Kankuro could play the guitar, he invited him to join the band. Gaara would sit on the sofa and watch as Kankuro played the guitar while Naruto would sing. The band did cover songs, ones that Shikamaru and Naruto liked. Gaara liked how the blond sounded. When it was just the three of them, it felt like he was singing just for him, sending chills down his spine.

After the week of not having any contact with the rest of his band, as soon as his punishment was over, Naruto had Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru all over. They liked the sound that Kankuro brought to the band so decided to keep it with him on back up guitar, and acoustic guitar. Every day for two weeks were spent rehearsing for the upcoming power of youth concert that Gai was hosting at a local warehouse that he owned.

On the last week before the concert, the band moved all the equipment to it and practiced in it nearly twenty four hours a day. During these times, Gaara had nothing to do, except take care of the three week old kitten that Naruto had brought home a week earlier. Naruto didn't want anyone to hear the new song that they were working on, the red head missed his room mate, and would wait up till all hours of the night waiting for him to come home.

Naruto also missed Gaara and hated that he did, he would often complain about it to himself, reminding himself that before he had met Gaara, he had been perfectly fine alone. One night, the night before the show, he and Kiba stayed out all night goofing off, he had then crashed over at Kiba's house. Never once checking his cell phone for messages. If he had, he would have heard from Iruka that he was going to have his granny show up at the concert.

Naruto was the one that had chose the clothes, and Sai was the one to do the hair and makeup of all of them.

"So," Shikamaru grinned at Naruto, as they were getting ready for the show. "Is it still on for tonight?"

Sai overheard, "What are you two planning?"

Naruto smiled and said, "You know it Shikamaru."

"Tell me." Sai was applying the make up on Naruto's eyes.

"It's something for you Sai, so we can't say. Right Shikamaru?"

"Yeah…" Shikamaru actually smiled. "Troublesome that it will be…"

"Just tell me." Sai paused his hand, the eyeliner pencil held half way to the eyes.

"Its just a song…" Shikamaru said, "A song from us to you."

"Oh, well then in that case I need to make you all as hot as possible." Sai smiled as he knew that it would be easy to do for these five boys.

Kankuro groaned over in the corner, "Why the hell am I wearing girls clothes again?"

Choji continued eating his chips that were open on the counter, "Cause Naruto changes our look for each show."

"Yeah, this time you lucked out." Kiba laughed. "At least we are not wearing those god awful green jump suits from Gai's Place."

"All you have to worry about is showing off your underwear." Choji added.

"But we are in drag…" Kankuro groaned louder. "Temari and Gaara are going to be here." Putting his hand over his eyes, he added as an afterthought, "Oh no, all the cute girls will see me in a pair of short shorts, and this damn halter top."

"Yeah," Shikamaru added, "At least you don't have a girl in particular that you are wanting to impress, like I do. And don't remind me about your sister being here, she is the one girl I would love to avoid dressed like this."

Naruto hid his grin, he was enjoying the moment.

Gai-sensei knocked on the door and said through it, "Ten more minutes."

Ten minutes later, Naruto followed Shikamaru and Kiba, behind him was Kankuro and Choji, they could all hear Gai's speech about the power of youth and to not forget to get all the school supplies and clothes they would need at Gai's Place. In other words free advertisement.

When he called for the Rejects to the stage, they all went out to cat calls and cheers. Naruto saw that all their friends were the nosiest. Grinning with devilish delight, Naruto grabbed the microphone.

"This is the mark of the new school year that stars in two weeks." Naruto spoke into the microphone. "We have been a band now for a little over a year, we added a new member, and came up with a few new songs, this first one is dedicated to Sai. So enjoy!" As the music started, Naruto began to sing.

_Yo check it out, I've got a plan, here's my intention.  
__The frat boys in the club are lame, let's start an altercation.  
__It's just what I'm used to, just want to fuck shit up.  
__I got my whole damn crew, come on, what you gonna do?_

_I kissed a boy and they liked it, got all the honeys in the club excited.  
__I kissed a boy just to start shit, and homeboy was not about it.  
__I know it's wrong, but I don't mind, I'm gonna start shit tonight.  
__I kissed a boy just to start shit, bitches loved it._

_Nah, you don't even know my name, it doesn't matter.  
__Don't even front, you got no game, your just a sucker.  
__So what now, I clowned you, and I'm stealing your girl too.  
__She wants a secure dude, and that's just not you._

_I kissed a boy and they liked it, got all the honeys in the club excited.  
__I kissed a boy just to start shit, and homeboy was not about it.  
__I know it's wrong, but I don't mind, I'm gonna start shit tonight.  
__I kissed a boy just to start shit, bitches loved it._

_Me and my bros, that's how we roll,  
__You'll never know how far we'll go,  
__I'll grab some chump that I don't know,  
__And plant one right on him,  
__Your only here for our amusement._

_I kissed a boy and they liked it, got all the honeys in the club excited.  
__I kissed a boy just to start shit, and homeboy was not about it.  
__I know it's wrong, but I don't mind, I'm gonna start shit tonight.  
__I kissed a boy just to start shit, bitches loved it._

As the song ended Naruto kissed Shikamaru. It was only suppose to be a kiss, however they ended up wrapping their arms around each other and deepening it to where it was obvious to all that they were using their tongues too. It was when Shikamaru planted his hand on Naruto's ass that Kiba started a drum roll trying to get them to break up the kiss. Choji eased over to where he had stashed his chips and grabbed a few handfuls, while he watched the action on stage, he had never imagined that Shikamaru and Naruto would pull this kind of stunt. Yeah he could see Kiba and Naruto, not Shikamaru, he did think it was kind of hot though.

Kankuro saw Temari doing a cat call at the two and next to her Gaara had a cup in his hand that he slowly squeezed, crushing it. Something dark in his eyes as he watched Naruto being kissed on stage. Placing his hand on his face, Kankuro wondered just why he had joined this band. It was now plainly obvious to him that his little bro had a thing for the front man.

The drum roll seemed to last an infinitely long time. Naruto had long ago lost track of time as Shikamaru probed his mouth, he had never imagined anything feeling so good. It could last forever and he would not mind at all. Reality hit him though when Kiba had stopped his drum roll and approached them, he yanked Naruto out of Shikamaru's arms and planted a kiss of his own on Naruto's swollen lips before saying, "We got more songs to do."

Blushing prettily, Naruto looked out at the audience, all the girls were still whistling for more, yet when he heard a vaguely familiar voice snap, "Stop blushing, Shizune." Naruto felt a moment of intense panic. Standing near the middle of the stage, with her nose upturned in a pout, was his paternal grandma, Iruka, Baki, and his dad's cousin, Shizune.

"Granny Tsunade," Naruto squeaked.

Tsunade glared at her unpredictable grandson.

Naruto scampered back to the drums to nearly hide behind Kiba. "Well now that the entertainment is over," he cleared his throat before continuing, "This song is for all those going back to school soon."

By the time the show was over, Naruto bounced off the stage, grabbed Gaara and dragged him away, with the band hurriedly following. "So how was it?" he asked the red headed teen.

"Good."

"Is that all?" Kiba teased.

"I liked the costumes." Temari pointedly looked at her brother. They were still wearing them.

"Damn…" Kankuro mumbled, "When can I get changed?"

"Oh… Kankuro," Temari purred, "You look so cute, I think you should wear those shorts all the time."

"Don't even start…" Kankuro lunged at her.

"Oh and why not?" Temari teased, "Is the itty bitty boy going to cry? Are you going to go home and play with your little puppets?"

"So when is the next gig going to be?" Kiba folded his hands and placed them behind his head as they walked, effectively ignoring the argument between the twins.

"Homecoming I think." Naruto jumped up on Kiba's back and tried to wrestle him down to the ground. "We need to think of a new look." Once he realized that he couldn't, he jumped down.

"Yeah…" Shikamaru nodded, "Why not go as super heroes?"

"Or how about jocks?"

Naruto mulled over what Choji and Shikamaru had suggested, "We could do a look from the fifties."

"Yeah all Elvis like." Kiba added.

They were in front of Kiba's house, "See ya Monday?" Naruto asked as Kiba headed into the house.

"Sure thing." Kiba waved.

After walking Choji home, they all decided to go eat somewhere. Deciding on Denny's, they walked through the parking lot and saw Ino and Sakura against the building. Ino had Sakura pinned to the wall, and was kissing the other girl with tenderness. Naruto paused to watch his one time crush making out with her rival. Sakura slid one hand under Ino's shirt while the other hand went to the blonds' long hair to pull on it so that the kiss could deepen to Sakura's wants.

The two girls parted slightly to glare at them, "What do you want?" Ino asked defensively.

Grinning, Naruto honestly told them, "You two a couple now? You look good together."

"NO!" Sakura said a little too quickly

Ino looked a little upset, when Sakura pushed her away though, the blond covered up her expression, "Don't go thinking that I would want to have a relationship with her…" Ino's voice held a touch of the venom that could sting a rattlesnake.

"Touché," Shikamaru said as he walked away from the two girls.

"Well, you two should kiss more often, it looks hot." Naruto said.

"We will if you do again." Ino grinned at the blond singer.

Naruto realized that the only one that had stayed with him was Gaara, "Fine." Walking over to the red head with a purpose, a mischievous gleam in his eyes, Naruto placed one hand behind Gaara's head and gently pulled the other towards him.

Shocked, Gaara was unable or unwilling to deny the cute blond. When their lips touched a jolt of electricity seemed to run down from those lips to the soles of his feet...


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:**_** I solemnly swear that I am not the creator of Naruto, that would be Masashi Kishimoto. I write this as a fan of the manga (if you don't have the manga… you must go out and buy it to read how wonderful it is), and the anime. If you read the manga you will know that most of my characters are OoC, I deeply apologize if this offends you in any way. You have the option of not reading it, or even hitting the review button and telling me how much you hate it… hate my style, don't you dare say anything about Masashi Kishimoto though, or any of the characters he created! I will curse you if you do!**_

_A/N: I am rambling in this A/N and disclaimer, so I beg for your forgiveness now. I know that this is AU, and I have them in school now, just so you know, this is not a HS fic, I am only mentioning a few of the things that will be happening in school, most of this story will center on the relationship between Naruto and Gaara; Ino and Sakura; Shikamaru and Temari; Kiba and Hinata; Sasuke and Suigetsu; Orochimaru and his obsession with Sasuke. If you don't like these pairings please feel free to flame me and no longer read this story. _

* * *

Gaara felt the familiar tingle that he had that very first night that Naruto had pulled him into bed with him. Soon he would lose all his reasoning and give in and make a big fool of himself, all because of this kiss that probably meant nothing to the blond yet to Gaara meant everything. He had to get away, he couldn't let Naruto know just how much he was in heaven right now. How much the feel of those soft lips were turning his insides into goo, the kind that resulted in butterflies fluttering in his stomach. The feel of those hands pressing their bodies close… his brain felt a little fuzzy, like that time he had snuck some the wine in Suna at Christmas.

Later he knew he would regret this, then again if he did nothing, his decorum would leave and he just might inadvertently let Naruto know how much he wanted this, and he didn't want to ruin the first close friendship that he had. So he did what he had to do, he pushed against Naruto's lean chest. Pushing him away. Breaking the contact with the one person that he really wanted to have hold him.

Naruto was momentarily confused, then he slowly nodded his head. Realization at the fact that he had crossed the line, and possibly lost the friend that made him so confused that he didn't know exactly what he wanted. The red head had been haunting him since they had met, and Naruto was so confused about how he felt. He had never felt this way for anyone before and he didn't like what it made him feel, even though he liked the red headed boy, Naruto refused to admit that he was attracted to him.

"Gaara-" Naruto started, before he could say anything more, Gaara abruptly turned and fled down the street. He was running as if his very life depended on it. "What the hell?"

Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled her along to follow the errant red head, over her shoulder she told Ino, "Tell the others, if we find Gaara, we will be back. If not, we will go back to Naruto's house once we do find him."

Ino nodded her head, long blond hair following her as she headed into the restaurant.

"Why did you kiss him?"

"Cause you told me to…" Naruto knew it sounded lame, it sounded lame to him so when Sakura rolled her eyes, he wasn't surprised.

"You baka.." Her voice was soft with her anger. "You need to realize that sometimes you can't do what you want with just anyone. The kid probably doesn't know you like Shikamaru or Lee or anyone else for that matter. You can't just go around and kiss him."

"I know, and I feel like a bigger idiot than ever." Gaara was somewhere up ahead. Naruto wondered what it was about him that had made him act that way, he couldn't help how he felt towards him. As much as he denied it, he did find him attractive, and that bothered Naruto more than anything had possibly bothered him. He also felt the urge to protect the red head, from everything, himself included.

"So how was it?"

Smiling slightly, Naruto glanced at his friend. "If I say it was nice will you believe me?"

Sakura grabbed a hold of his arm and grinned up at him. "It was just nice huh?"

"Yeah." Naruto looked away slightly as he lied. Sakura now realized that her friend was lying. Trying to change the subject, he asked, "What about with you and Ino?"

Sakura sighed dreamily, then as if she realized what that sigh meant, she elbowed Naruto before saying, "We were talking about you, not me."

Innocently, Naruto raised a eyebrow and retorted, "Well its only fair that you tell me about you if you want me to tell you about me."

"Naruto, you sure are confusing. How does my relationship with Ino have anything to do with this?"

"Correct me if I am wrong, I seem to be under the impression that you told me to kiss Gaara."

"I sure as the hell did not." Sakura defended herself.

"What was that all about, saying that you would kiss her again if I kissed a boy again then?"

Frustrated, Sakura growled. "We didn't think you would do that though, and now the poor guy is probably mad at you."

Up ahead of them they both noticed Gaara leaning against the railing that overlooked the river. Thankfully he had not seen them yet.

"I know…" Naruto admitted.

Gaara looked over at them, in the dark the only part that was noticeable was the eerie glow his eyes made. That is when it dawned on Naruto that maybe he did like the red head for more, nah… he tried to deny. I Do Not Like Boys!

"Gaara," his voice was a little hesitant, "I am sorry if I offended you."

Gaara looked so lost and alone. It made Naruto want to just hold him and comfort him. "Its no big deal."

"I know that Naruto can be a jerk-"

"Gee thanks a lot Sakura…"

"Its true, anyway, he can be insensitive so please forgive him. He knows not what he does."

"Sounds like a line from Type O Negative…" Naruto mumbled only loud enough for Sakura to hear.

"Hmm… I think you are right." She softly replied.

"No need to worry," Gaara spoke up as he walked towards them. "It just shocked me is all."

"Yosh," He grinned at his room mate, "Come on Gaara, lets forget this ever happened and go home."

"You can't just forget it." Sakura scolded lightly.

"You do with Ino."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"Baka…"

"You love me though…"

"As if…"

"Ahh… so you admit that you like Ino more than you like me."

If it had been lighter they all would have seen her turn beet red, as it is all they noticed was how she once more elbowed Naruto. "You are incorrigible."

Gaara enjoyed the light bickering that was really teasing between the two, as they all walked towards Naruto's house. He still didn't know why he couldn't call it home yet. They lived their and Kankuro and Temari considered it home, Gaara however just felt that it was Naruto's house. Maybe one day he too would consider it home. After years of not having a real home though made Gaara a little leery of getting too comfortable about one.

Naruto was more than a little exasperated when they finally got home, Sakura was being a know it all and it was making him wish that she would just leave and let him be alone with Gaara. Opening the front door, he had forgotten that his granny would be waiting for him so when she was standing in the foyer waiting on him a audible groan escaped his lips.

"Lady Tsunade…" Sakura smiled sweetly at his granny.

"Granny…"

"…" Gaara glanced around, not sure what was going on between the three.

"Sakura dear." Tsunade smiled at the girl that she made no secret about wanting Naruto to marry. Focusing her full attention on Naruto now, she said, "What the hell were you thinking when you kissed that boy up on stage?"

"Granny-"

"Auntie," Shizune put her slender arm on Naruto, "You know how Naruto is an actor. It was all a theatrical performance, like what Jiraiya teaches him. Right Naruto?"

Naruto noticed the wink from Shizune that his Granny couldn't see, "Uh, yeah, what she said."

Tsunade looked thoughtful for a moment, eventually she nodded her head and said, "Okay, I will not mind it then. Just don't do it again."

Gulping, all Naruto could do was nod his head in acknowledgement.

"So this is Gaara?" Shizune held her hand out to the red head, "I am Naruto's late fathers cousin, Shizune, that," she motioned towards Tsunade, "is Naruto's grandmother Tsunade."

Snorting, Naruto was about to say something when his granny pulled him into a brief hug. "When are you going to spend some time at my place? Of course Sakura can accompany you."

"Uh, granny," Naruto gasped, "I… can't…. breath…"

"Sorry," she let her only grandson go.

"Well…" Naruto looked at Sakura to help him out of this mess.

"Naruto and I are busy right now." Sakura smiled at the blond. "Maybe during the winter holidays?"

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah, we still have to get our things ready for school."

"It doesn't take two weeks to get school supplies." Tsunade lightly scowled.

"For kids these days it does," Shizune placated the older woman. "Lets just let them enjoy the last two weeks before school starts. You know as much as I do that right now would not be a good time for you to have company."

"Ah, Shizune." Tsunade smiled at her late husbands niece, "So right you are. What would I do without you?"

"Lose all your money…" Naruto mumbled only loud enough for Gaara, Sakura and Shizune to hear.

* * *

"Naruto…"

"Huh? Wha?" disoriented, Naruto looked up from his folded arms on his desk.

Shikamaru chuckled from above him. "You didn't hear the bell. Time for the last class of the day."

"Ahh, yeah, right. I knew that." Naruto stood up and gathered his books. They had only been back to school for three days and Naruto and Shikamaru were both falling back into the familiar routine that they had last year. Go to school, sleep through most of the classes and then muddle through loads of homework. Ahh that was the life… Naruto mused to himself as he walked into the wood shop class that he shared with Shikamaru. "Tell me once more why we took this class?"

"Cause its easy." Shikamaru sat down at the large table that they had claimed on the first day back.

Sitting down next to him, Naruto nodded his head and watched as Choji plopped down on Shikamaru's other side. Kiba and Gaara sat across from them and some kid that none of them knew.

"So how has the day been for you two?" Kiba asked Naruto.

Shikamaru and Naruto had every class together, starting with Drama in first hour to Wood shop in last hour. Before Naruto could respond, the teacher walked in. He kind of freaked Naruto out.

Yamato looked over towards Naruto and Kiba. He already knew that those two would be the troublemakers of this class.

"Yes Naruto," he had heard what Kiba had asked, "Tell us all how you spend your day. I am sure everyone wants to hear."

"Well it was kinda-" Naruto began, then he noticed how Yamato looked. Those eyes… "Uh… never mind…"

After about five minutes of silence, Yamato looked away and said to the class, "Today you are all to get some of the wood I have up here and make a cutting board. You may create any design you wish, yet keep in mind the lesson we learned yesterday."

Naruto had grabbed a nice piece of wood and wasted no time on it, soon his cutting board was beginning to take shape. Then he messed up… so he cut the messed up part off… so it was a little smaller…. Once more it was taking shape…. Then it messed up again, sighing in frustration, he used the saw once more to trim it. In the end his cutting board was only about three inches long and two inches wide. It was a perfect replica of a cutting board.

"Argh…" Naruto groaned, he just knew that he would get nothing better than a C- if he was lucky. Looking around at the others work, he noticed that Gaara's was perfect. Even Kiba had a decent one. Choji's was a little better than Kiba's and then he noticed Shikamaru's. It was about the same as his, and his friend was now burning into the wood the phrase 'so troublesome.' It gave Naruto the idea to carve into his the Rejects. Which he did.

In fact, Naruto and Shikamaru both got a D… Leaving the class, Naruto didn't say anything about his lack of skill in wood shop.

"See ya in a hour." He told Shikamaru as He and Gaara headed to the drama room for the private vocal lessons he received daily from Jiraiya.

Shikamaru nodded and headed for the football field to where Temari would be sitting in the bleachers doing her homework while Kankuro would have his football practice.

He sat down next to Temari and just watched her for a moment before she noticed he was even there. "Damn," she mumbled, "Why do you have to be so quiet?"

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and glanced down at the players on the field. Last year at this time he would have killed anyone that said he would be friends with a guy who played football or for that matter that he would have a crush on a older girl. His life had made a unexpected turn of events that had him wondering what had changed, not him, so he mused it must be Naruto. Troublesome that it was, his best friend was the one that had brought all the new changes to his life.

Inside the school, Naruto was going through the range of notes that Jiraiya always made him do in these lessons. Gaara was once more in awe of the way Naruto could sing, it made him feel as if he got a sneak peek at a cherub that led the other angels in hymn to praises that only the righteous could hear.

"Naruto," Jiraiya interrupted, "are you trying to ruin my ears?"

"What are you talking about old man?" Yeah, Gaara fumed at Naruto's question, no way was Naruto's singing anything other than perfect.

"You were off key on the last two notes." the retired Broadway actor intoned tediously.

Gaara was about to argue in Naruto's defense when Naruto snorted, "You don't know anything old man."

"Look Naruto, I am not doing this for me. If I were then you would be paying me, as it is, I do this cause you have honest talent. If you don't want to learn anything from my years of knowledge, then you know where the door is."

Grumbling, Naruto looked down and said something that Gaara could not hear.

"Okay, now try again," Jiraiya said, "and this time with feeling."

Naruto's lessons continued in this vein for another half an hour, ending when Naruto finished singing a song from a older Broadway musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cat's. Something about a Mr. Mistoffellees, Jiraiya even taught Naruto how to do part of the dance for it.

They were both walking towards the football field where the others would be waiting, when Naruto told Gaara about the production they were putting on in Drama, each grade had to do a different famous play, and Naruto's class had chosen Phantom of the Opera. They would have the entire school year to work on it.

"So what part are you going to have?" Gaara was curious. The little that he knew about acting, singing and dancing, he thought that Naruto was the best out of everyone in the school. Maybe he was just biased though, so he gave the benefit of the doubt to others.

Grinning sheepishly, Naruto said, "To be honest, I don't care. I just enjoy singing so I hope its something good."

"I think you sing good." Gaara shyly commented.

Blushing slightly, Naruto demurely said, "Thank you."

"What are you being so modest for?" Shikamaru asked as he and Temari walked over to where they were standing near the gate for the football field. "That is not like you."

"Never mind…"

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the chain link fence. "Whatever…"

"You gonna stay for dinner tonight?"

"Nah, mom's making me go to that damn event for church that is gonna have a dinner after it."

"Fun." Naruto laughed, "Just don't fall asleep."

"I no longer do that." the lie was so bald that it was shiny in the late afternoon sun.

Snorting, Naruto was staring at his friend and nearly burst out laughing. Shikamaru was trying to keep a straight face, he really was, then his grin split and this time Naruto did laugh.

"Come on you rejects." Kankuro called over to them as he ran towards them from the locker rooms. "We gotta go home, I have homework to do…"

Gaara and Temari both looked at their brother and both had jaw dropping expressions.

"What?" Kankuro said as he saw them.

Gaara was the first to look away. Temari only rolled her eyes and then led the way to the car.

"So who is the girl?" she asked as they all piled into the car.

"What girl?" Kankuro gulped.

Laughing, Temari said, "I know when you have a new girl who you have your eye on. Just like I know when Gaara has a new-"

"Temari!" Gaara seethed. He interrupted Temari so fast that Naruto was amazed that the red head had been paying attention.

"We all know when Gaara-"

"Kankuro!"

"Well its true."

"Just shut up."

"What's true?" Naruto was curious now.

"Nothing!"

"Gaara, he is now our brother," Kankuro grinned evilly, "I think he has a right to know."

"No he does not!"

"Yes I do, Kankuro, what do I have a right to know?"

"Kankuro if you say anything, I will kill you so that no one will ever recognize you again."

"Yeah Kankuro, if Gaara does not want to share certain things, then we shouldn't tell."

"Thank you Temari."

"You are welcome. And besides, who cares now days if you are that way."

"Temari!" Gaara squealed.

Shikamaru and Kankuro both chuckled. Naruto though was confused. He wanted to know what Gaara's secret was. To the others, they all seemed to know and Naruto hated it when something was kept from him.

* * *

_**A/N So sorry if this update is overdue. My muse went away and I had to hunt it down, and drag it back here kicking and screaming. As for the chapter, this one seems to be nothing major. Yet it had to happen cause it is all part of my diabolical plot. Can you spot it?…. WTF…. Spot what plot?…. Like this story has a plot? WOW!**_

**M/N: (muse note) **_Damn you vile woman (Nova Trinity)! I was at the beach enjoying my summer holiday and I have to come back to this hell hole… no more fun, no more sun… and the summer is just about over! Here I sit, all alone in a dark room that is arid, the only company I get being…. Uh oh gotta go the slave driver is coming back… Please review, or I might never see the light of day again…._


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer:**__** I am not in any way making a profit on this story, so please do not sue me…. Oh wait a minute, my profit is that warm fuzzy feeling I get when I open my e-mail and see a review, so I have made a few of those… thank you all who review.**_

_**A/N: Sorry this update is so long in the getting here, it got lost in San Antonio… It also forgot to turn left in Albuquerque, so it ended up going out to sea. Anyway, here for your entertainment, is the new chapter for Symphonic… Enjoy!**_

XxXxXxXxX

"You what?" Sakura asked Naruto. They were sitting on the grass in the park on Saturday morning. "Why the hell did you sign up for that? In a week you are going to came to me begging to have me find a way for you to get out of it. And I will laugh in your face and say NO!"

"No, I will be able to handle it." Naruto said before taking a bite from his apple.

Ino, who was laying on Sakura's lap laughed, "I can see it now." She was saying up to the pink headed girl, "Naruto assisting in some nursing home where they make him leave cause he is too noisy."

"Come on Ino," Naruto pleaded, "Have a heart. Join the cause."

"What cause are you talking about? Help the elderly or help the idiot?"

"Temari, Kankuro and Gaara did it in Suna, why not do it here too? Temari is organizing it, she said that it helps build character, and we have to do community service hours anyway to graduate."

"I was going to go to the animal shelter." Ino said.

"Yeah, me too." Sakura absently caressed Ino's platinum locks.

"So you two are animals?" Naruto used the same line that Temari had used on Kiba the day before.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sakura looked offended.

Uh-oh, Naruto thought, it didn't give the same results. Kiba had grudgingly agreed to it due to the pressure from Choji, Shikamaru and himself all adding that they were helping the Suna siblings. He had to think fast so as to not offend the two girls anymore than he already had. "I am just saying that you will not grow old one day. You will instead turn into a animal upon graduation?"

"Can you hear yourself?" Sakura said with a hint of laughter, "Just out of sheer idiocy I will agree to think about it okay Naruto?"

"Thank you Sakura," Naruto kissed her on the forehead.

Ino glared at Naruto and said, "Watch it loud mouth, don't touch her again."

"If you agree to volunteer with the elderly I will swear to you that I will never touch her with my mouth again."

Ino harrumphed and glared at Naruto before Sakura lightly nudged her to indicate what she wanted. "Fine, just make sure that you don't touch her again."

Jumping up, Naruto said, "Thank you." Before sprinting back towards Shikamaru and Temari near the water fountain. They were so close that Naruto wondered about it for a split second before interrupting the couple. "Ino and Sakura are joining too."

Temari looked a little irritated at Naruto before smiling and saying, "Great, thanks Naruto."

Shikamaru just nodded his head.

"Where did Gaara go?" Naruto looked around and noticed the red head was no where to be seen.

Temari also looked around, "Don't know, Kankuro went off with his new girlfriend."

Shikamaru glanced over at Naruto and said, "Why don't you go look for him?"

"I think I will." Naruto smiled. The past month since the start of school, Naruto had found that he enjoyed having Gaara around. When he wasn't it made the blond miss him. Still Naruto refused to see that he was growing to like the red head for more than just a friend.

Naruto found Gaara talking to a cute senior from school, they were clearly flirting, What The Hell! Naruto was not upset, no he was so calm that the feeling of jealousy he was feeling at seeing Gaara flirt with another boy was not causing him to clench and unclench his fist, what was causing him to clench his fist was in fact the slight chill in the air indicating summer had long past.

"Gaara," Naruto calmly called, not wanting to interrupt the moment the two were clearly having. Yeah right, he did want to interrupt it, he wanted to give the guy the third degree for even glancing at his Gaara. Naruto sat down a little closer to Gaara than was necessary. "I was looking for you."

Gaara blushed and looked up at Naruto, "What for?"

"Are you ready to go home?"

"Uh…" Gaara looked between the senior and Naruto, "We just got here."

"Oh yeah…" Naruto looked at the other boy as well, "My name is Naruto."

"Hi," he kindly said, "I am Seth, I have seen you perform lots of times."

"Well Seth," Naruto said, "How do you like it?"

Seth looked a little confused, "I think the music is good."

"Naruto," Gaara interrupted before Naruto could ask more, "Did you want something else?"

Naruto was wounded, did Gaara really, truly want him, Naruto, to leave? Was he getting the brush off? Was Gaara choosing this Seth creep over him? "Uh… I guess I can go somewhere else." Naruto stood up.

"Naruto," Gaara put his hand on Naruto's arm, "Wait, I didn't mean it like you think."

"Oh no problem Gaara," Naruto tried to smile. "I need to go find Sasuke anyway to get him to join the new club."

Brushing Gaara's hand off, Naruto walked away.

In Naruto's mind the tolling of the funeral bells were going off.

When Naruto was a bit further, he mournfully sang, "Make his fight, on the hill in the early day. Constant chill deep inside… Shouting gun, on they run, through the endless grey… On they fight, are they right? Yes, but who's to say? For a hill, men would kill. Why? They do not know, stiffened wounds test their pride. Men of five, still alive through the raging glow… Gone insane, from the pain that they surely know… For whom the bell tolls, time marches on…"

He continued his silent homage to Metallica all the way back to his house, ignoring the looks that others gave him. He went through a few other songs by the band before opening the front door to the house. Iruka was fixing some lunch when he went into the kitchen.

"You are home early." Iruka seemed a little shocked. He put his hand to the blonds forehead and added, " Are you sick?"

Naruto sat down at the counter and dejectedly put his head on the counter. "I am fine."

"Naruto, what happened?" Iruka seemed genuinely concerned.

"Nothing…"

"Are you hungry?"

"No…"

"Where is Gaara?"

Snapping his head up, Naruto glared before saying, "I am not his keeper. What do you think I am? He doesn't belong to me…"

With that said, Naruto left a very startled Iruka.

Later that day, Gaara returned long enough to change clothes for his 'date' with Seth. All the while, Naruto just watched, wondering why he was so irritated. Temari and Shikamaru were going out along with Kankuro and his new girlfriend. That left Naruto home alone with Iruka and Baki. Ugh, he had never had a more miserable meal in his life.

After he cleaned the kitchen, Naruto went up to his room, he sat on his oversized whicker chair and tried to play his Final Fantasy game. He tried all of them, each one reminded him of Gaara. Gaara loved playing the games…

He had to think of other things, after he went down to get a Mountain Dew for the second time and deciding to just take the twelve pack up to his room, he decided that he would try to work on his part in the school play. Nothing, he couldn't concentrate, his thoughts continually returned to wondering what Gaara was doing.

He hated to admit it, but Gaara and Seth actually looked good together. Ugh… he started to pace the room, glancing at the clock, he realized that it was now ten p.m.

"I know…" Naruto mumbled to himself, "Sai… I will call Sai."

"Hello Naruto."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Caller ID."

"Oh, yeah, right I forgot." he stepped into the large empty tub.

"Are you taking your bath?"

"What? Oh, no I am in the tub though."

"Naruto…"

"Yes Sai?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering… So how is everything then?"

"Well for starters Gaara went out on a date."

"Really?" Sai sounded intrigued. "Who with?"

"This senior who happens to be the biggest jerk ever."

"What's his name? I might know him."

"Seth something or other."

"Nope, never heard of Seth something or other."

"It's not funny Sai, what do I do when Seth waits for Gaara to graduate from high school so they can move to Boston to get married. They will live on a nice suburban street in a quaint home that has a white picket fence and have a dog named Roger and adopt four kids, two boys named John and Jason and two girls named Jennifer and Joni."

"Well why would they have all J names?"

"Cause J names are elegant."

"Well I don't think so… So why are you so upset?"

"Gaara will forget all about me and Mr. Snuggles."

"Who is Mr. Snuggles?"

"The kitten we found a couple weeks ago… Oh Sai it was near dead. We worked together and saved it. He is so cute. When he moves to Boston with Seth I am going to have to get him for kitty support. You should see Mr. Snuggles, he is so traumatized that Gaara is not here… We barely got to keep him, you know Iruka is highly allergic to cats, just looking at one could kill him. And now the poor dear has to stay in our room all the time, we have to sneak him outside for some fresh air."

In other words, Sai thought, Iruka doesn't know about the cat. "So what kind of dog is Roger?"

"He is a beautiful Golden retriever. His collar is red with little spikes on it and sometimes Joni puts doggy clothes on him."

"That's nice…"

"Jason is always in trouble at school…"

"Why?" Sai was playing along with Naruto's delusions.

"Because he likes to tease the girls."

"Well Naruto, I must say you should be taking a bath. You always feel better after one."

"I blame Gaara."

"What? Why?"

"I leave the door open when I take a bath and if he walks in while I am in the tub that would just be too embarrassing. So its his fault that I stink."

"He has seen you naked before though."

"Not in the tub though."

"Oh… well Naruto I have a call on the other line, its Neji. And by the way, I think he is coming around."

"Call me tomorrow and fill me in on all the details."

"Just turn that victory music for Final Fantasy down and you might hear the phone then."

"I like the music though, it reminds me of Gaara…"

"You like him… a lot."

"No…" Naruto lied, "Well I'll talk to you tomorrow. Tell Neji hi for me."

"Okay."

Hanging up the phone, Naruto got up out of the empty tub. Absently he picked up a fourth can of Mountain Dew and sat back down in the chair to nurse it. Mr. Snuggles sat down on his lap, purring loudly. "It's alright Mr. Snuggles, hopefully soon daddy will be home. We are going to be all right…" Now if only he could force himself to believe those words he thought as he stroked the cat.

XxXxXxXxX

Gaara was listening to Seth, thinking about what Naruto was doing. He was not paying any attention to Seth and he momentarily felt bad for it.

Trying to focus on the other boy was more difficult than Gaara could manage, so all he did was nod his head at the appropriate places as if listening. He hated that all he could think about was his blond room mate that really didn't care for him other than as a friend. He needed to get over Naruto, but how?

"So what do you think?"

"Okay…" Gaara said, he didn't know what he was agreeing to…

"You are not even paying attention to me are you?"

"I'm so sorry." Gaara did feel bad, Seth was a decent guy, it just wasn't working out.

"So tell me what has your mind a million miles away."

"Naruto… I feel bad that he is home all alone."

"You care for him a lot don't you?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah it is."

"Oh… shit." Gaara moaned. "He could care less for me though, I know he likes me for a friend, and all, I just want more though."

"You never know, I thought he seemed upset that we were together earlier. So give it a shot, tell him how you feel, he may just surprise you by telling you that he likes you too."

Momentarily Gaara looked hopeful, then he looked depressed, "I think he is straight."

Seth laughed at that, not in a condescending way, it was as if it amused him to think that Naruto could be straight. "Since Naruto started high school, he has been popular, all the pretty girls have been trying to get him to date them, he has refused them all. Some of the guys I hang out with have a thing for him too."

"So Naruto is popular then?"

"Yeah, a lot of people like him," Seth looked away for a moment, "At one time last year even I liked him, and then this summer when he kissed Shikamaru at the concert, he is not straight, in the least he is bi."

Gaara gently placed his hand on his lips, recalling the time that Naruto had kissed him as well. "He is overly dramatic though, so what do I do about that?"

"What do you mean?"

Blushing slightly, Gaara shook his head, "Never mind, it's nothing."

"Tell me."

Gaara was turning the color of his hair. "It's too embarrassing."

"Give me an example then."

Gaara thought about it, then after a moment of composing his thoughts he said, "If you have a friend that you like and out of the blue kisses you, what do you think?"

"What kind of kiss?"

Blushing slightly, Gaara said, "The kind that makes you weak in the knees, the kind that shows you the universe. It makes you forget to breath or the fact that others are watching…"

"Wow!" Seth sighed. "That is beautiful." A touch of envy was in his tone.

"So what do you think this friend was doing when he kissed you?"

Seth looked at the red head and grinned, "I would think that my friend liked me just as much as I liked him. So is Naruto that good of a kisser?"

"Yeah…" Gaara softly said before realizing he had just told Seth that it had been him.

"Go for it then," Seth urged, "Go home right now and tell him how you feel. Just don't forget to use a condom."

Gaara felt his face flame up and he knew that he was blushing so bad that if someone were to touch it, you just might get burned. "That's just the problem though, Naruto is such a dramatic person, what if he just kissed me for the drama."

"A kiss like that though? Nah."

"What if he didn't feel the same way after the kiss?"

"How did he look?"

"I don't know," Gaara admitted. "I ran off."

"You did what?"

"I was embarrassed, okay?"

"Well did he go to look for you at least?"

Nodding his head, Gaara said, "Yeah, he did."

"Right away?"

"Yeah."

"Go home to him then. Tell him how you feel."

Gaara stood up, glancing around the parking lot where they had eaten earlier, he said, "Okay, I will."

"Need a lift?"

"No, let me walk, I need to think."

"Don't take too long, he is probably waiting up for you."

"Thanks for everything." Gaara said, not believing that Naruto would be waiting up for him. That little spark of hope though did fill him, what would he do if Naruto was in fact waiting up for him? It was now nearly eleven p.m.

The walk back was nice, he admired some of the Halloween decorations in a few yards, soon it would be time for his favorite holiday. He loved Halloween, to him it was better than Christmas and Thanksgiving, all other ones all rolled up in one. It was the one time each year he could be himself, a little morbid, and scare the little kids with the pictures he painted on the windows, depicting morbid scenes from the Brothers Grimm.

Gaara enjoyed the original work, not the stuff that had been Disneyfied. He especially liked the Little Red Ridding Hood and would depict the scenes on the front windows every year.

The house was dark, sure enough, Naruto had not waited up for him, Gaara thought as he headed up the drive. As silently as possible, he opened the front door. Faintly he heard the theme music to Final Fantasy. Naruto must have fallen asleep while playing the game, it wasn't the first time it had happened.

Passing the open doors of Kankuro's and Temari's rooms he noticed they were still not back.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, he opened the trap door to the attic room he shared with Naruto. Closing it, he was startled when the room was flooded with light.

As his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, he was startled to see Naruto glaring at him. He was sitting on his large chair curled up in a ball, on his lap was a black and white blob, Mr. Snuggles.

"_Our_ cat, has been having a fit." Naruto said, "He wants to know why you took so long. And when you move to Boston, you have to pay kitty support."

Gaara was flabbergasted, Boston, why the hell was Baki wanting to move to Boston? His eyes widened and he honestly said, "I don't want to move to Boston, I want to stay here with you."

Mr. Snuggles heard Gaara's voice and woke up. Jumping down from Naruto's lap, he rubbed up against Gaara's leg showing his affection.

As if on cue, Naruto too, jumped up off the chair and threw his arms around the red head. "We missed you, its so boring here without you."

Gaara realized that Naruto was saying how he honestly felt, a warm fuzzy feeling took hold of him, and he also wrapped his arms around Naruto. It felt nice, it felt right, complete.

Later, after the two of them played some video games, and talked about meaningless things, Gaara fitfully fell asleep with thoughts of moving to Boston.

The following day, Temari and Kankuro were still missing, Gaara said to Baki, "If you think I am moving to Boston with you, you must be crazy."

"Boston?" Baki gapped at Gaara, "Whatever would I move to Boston for?"


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Naruto, I wish I did then I would live in Japan and have a twin… alas, I live in the states and I do not have a twin… As everyone knows, it is owned by Masashi Kishimoto, I only borrow them for my idea.

**A/N:**_ This chapter is some fan service, when I got one review that requested this, I loved the idea and here is what I have come up with in my plot… thanks to Darastrix for this chapter, and thanks to JessMess and .Less. For the inspiration from reviewing the last chapter. Enjoy! _

**XxXxXxXxX**

Sunday morning for Naruto was spent with Gaara, the two of them went up to the office and worked on some decorations for Halloween. Temari and Kankuro were still gone, Baki swore that they would be grounded till they graduate school.

"So…" Naruto started to say to Gaara, "How was your date last night? You were pretty vague about it."

"Was I?" Gaara looked up at Naruto, not sure what to say, it was obvious that the blond had missed him, what was not so obvious was if the blond would reciprocate Gaara's emotions or would it ruin the friendship that they had?

"Yes, you were." Naruto added some paint to the picture that Gaara had just sketched, it was a realistic looking zombie, he only hoped that he wouldn't ruin the nice art work that Gaara had done. Why had he agreed to do this again? He asked himself, oh yeah, he wanted to spend the day with the red head.

"Sorry," Gaara mumbled, "I had a nice time, we talked…"

"And?" Naruto prompted for Gaara to continue.

"That's it," Gaara looked away, "Nothing else to tell."

"Oh." Naruto was not sure if he was pleased or not, he was wanting to know if Gaara had kissed the other boy, he didn't know why that thought irritated him.

They continued in silence for a few more minutes before Naruto noticed the noise coming from the hall. Getting up he opened the office door, Temari and Kankuro were back, they were complaining about every luxury being gone from their rooms.

"We went to church for God's sake." Temari complained loudly.

"What the fuck," Kankuro stood in his doorway, "Where is all my puppets?"

"You are both grounded for a month." Baki was saying.

"No fair," Kankuro glared at the older man, "Gaara was grounded and still got to keep his things. I want my puppets back now."

"We told you, we went to church…" Temari argued. "Shikamaru's mom made us go."

"What were you doing at Shikamaru's all night?"

"We got tired and fell asleep while watching movies with him." Temari clearly lied.

"Forget about that," Kankuro said, "If I tell you the truth, will you give me my puppets back?"

"Don't you dare Kankuro…" Temari threatened.

"Give it a shot." Baki said calmly.

"He's lying. He always lies." Temari now pleaded with Kankuro.

"We were watching some movies at Shikamaru's place. Shikamaru and Temari went off to bed around nine and left me alone with my girl friend in the family room."

"Traitor." Temari glared at her twin.

"I want my puppets back."

"He wont give them to you."

Baki interrupted before the bickering got too carried away. "For one week you will be grounded Kankuro. As for you Temari, I thought you knew better than to sleep with just anyone."

"Shikamaru is not just anyone." Temari pouted, "He is the man I am going to marry someday."

"He's younger than you." Baki was clearly irritated now.

"Love knows no age, as for the age bit, how much older than Iruka are you?"

"That does not count."

"You are seven years older than him."

"Temari do you want to be grounded longer than a month?"

"You are not going to ground me."

"Do you still live in my house hold?"

"Not for long."

"Where will you go? To your little boyfriend's? I don't think that his mom will allow it."

"She knew that Kankuro and I stayed the night."

"Did she know that you and Shikamaru slept together?"

Temari looked away guiltily. The proof was in the way she bit her lip and looked at Kankuro with murder in her eyes. "Fine." she stalked towards her room. "One month only." With that, she went into her now empty room save her bed, and clothes, and slammed the door.

Gaara also turned away, Naruto watched as Kankuro shrugged his shoulders in indifference and went into his room, knowing when to keep quiet. Baki was clearly upset, he went downstairs to talk with Iruka and be consoled.

Softly Naruto closed the door and looked at the clock, it was now almost two in the afternoon. They had been gone for over twenty four hours.

"Why does Kankuro want his puppets back so badly?"

Gaara looked up at Naruto's innocently asked question, "It was given to him by our mom. She used to put on puppet shows all the time for the twins. She died when I was born, then dad remarried and blamed me when that marriage didn't work. Then when they died in the accident, Kankuro would do the puppet shows for me to cheer me up. He is just sentimental."

"Wow, I see why he wants them back though." Naruto said in awe.

Gaara looked at him, trying to gauge why he would also be sentimental. "Why?"

"It's a part of your mom and he shared that with you. I think both of them adore you."

Gaara had a look on his face that was doubtful. "I just think you are delusional."

"Nah, they both love you."

Gaara looked away, feeling a little uncomfortable. He was not used to having people say things like that, it did make him feel better though and hope that Naruto was right.

"Lets finish up." Naruto thankfully changed the subject.

Soon they were once more absorbed in the intricacies of art work. Slightly having to redo something that Naruto messed up, Gaara didn't mind though, for it allowed them to spend time together and he enjoyed that.

They were just about done when Iruka came in. "Time for dinner boys." he looked at the art, "That is really good Gaara."

Blushing slightly, Gaara said, "Naruto helped me out."

Naruto smiled up at Iruka, "I messed them up so that he had to redo them."

Iruka laughed and patted the blond head, "Naruto is not inclined in painting or drawing, he is too much of a drama queen."

"Look who's calling the kettle black." Naruto snorted playfully.

After the family ate a solemn dinner, Naruto and Gaara went up to their room to watch some TV, nothing was on, so they decided to play Half Life. Even though the video games were Naruto's, Gaara was able to master them fast and proceeded to clean the floor with Naruto loosing.

"Uncalled for…" Naruto playfully pouted, "You are not suppose to be better than me." he stood up and headed for the bath room. "Go on and play… I have to take a bath now to sooth me."

Gaara smiled, Iruka had been right, Naruto was a drama queen. After a few minutes, Gaara changed games in favor of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It had soon become one of his favorite games and sometimes he forgot that he was alone.

Pausing the game, Gaara got up to go to the bathroom, forgetting that Naruto was in their still, he went in. In the tub, on the phone was Naruto, bubbles were everywhere and at the moment, he hadn't noticed that Gaara was standing there. The red head knew that under those bubbles was a very naked Naruto, he had briefly seen the other boy naked in the past, yet he was all slick with water now. His eyes were closed as he talked on the phone with his friend Sai, when he lifted his leg out of the large tub and ran his hand down the leg, itching his ankle, Gaara stumbled. He fell into the tub with Naruto, water splashing in all directions.

Oh God, Gaara thought to himself, he could tell that he was positioned between the blonds parted legs, he could feel them just about wrap around him as Naruto opened his eyes.

Naruto blushed, he looked at Gaara and realized at that moment that they were in a very compromising situation. For one thing, Gaara was in fact between Naruto's parted legs, for another thing, as Gaara fell in the tub, Naruto had in fact wrapped his legs around the red head. Gaara was wet, his clothes clung to him, making Naruto want to see what the red head looked like in the raw. A gleam of a thought entered Naruto, he was here now, Gaara might as well join him in the tub.

"Naruto-kun?" Sai was saying on the phone.

Ignoring Sai, Naruto put the phone on speaker and put it on the counter. "Here Gaara," Naruto said as he pulled the red head closer, "Might as well join me, after all you are all wet, and you might get sick if you stay in those clothes." Naruto started to take off Gaara's clothes.

Keeping Gaara between his legs, Naruto effortlessly took off Gaara's wet clothes. As he was unbuttoning Gaara's pants, Sai said, "Oh yes… that's the spot… a little lower…. Yeah, right there."

Gaara and Naruto both blushed now, Naruto's hand pausing on the zipper. How the hell did that evil Sai know he was about to take off Gaara's pants?

"Are you a mind reader?" Naruto asked.

Laughter was heard from the phone, "So are you two lovebirds needing to be alone now?"

Naruto blushed even more, his face seemed to radiate heat, "Sai…"

"Yes Naruto-kun?"

"I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"You can't leave out any sordid detail."

"Bye…"

"Bye, enjoy your bath with the cute Gaara."

Groaning, Naruto pushed the button on the phone to disconnect. "He can be such a pain." Naruto grumbled as he finished disrobing Gaara.

Gaara was mortified, the boy that he liked, the boy that at that moment was causing his heart to beat so loud and fast, was naked and had his slender legs wrapped around his waist just about, the boy that was causing his breath to come in little gasps was touching him. Those hands were touching him in places that no one had touched other than himself since Gaara had been a toddler.

"What's the matter?" Naruto innocently asked.

"Nothing…" Gaara mumbled. He was mortified, his body was responding to Naruto and he couldn't do anything about it.

Naruto shrugged his slender shoulders and leaned closer to the other boy, "So tell me Gaara, what is the thing about Temari's plan to have us all volunteer at the nursing home?"

Gulping, Gaara tried to ignore the ache swelling between his legs at the close proximity of Naruto. His mind though couldn't get over the fact that they were both naked together in the large tub. "Well, uh… she likes old people… I guess."

Naruto laughed, "Shikamaru is not old…"

Gaara looked at Naruto and momentarily wondered what he meant, then realization dawned on him. "True…"

Grinning, Naruto looked at Gaara, "You are cute you know that?" Gaara blushed at what Naruto had said, and Naruto added, "If I am not careful, you just might steal my heart."

Gaara suppressed the hope that those words evoked in him. They were sitting so close to each other, Gaara could feel Naruto's breath on his neck, if he scooted his bottom about three inches closer, then Gaara would be in position to claim the blond for his own… Damn, these thoughts were causing Gaara to forget just what it was that they had been discussing. It was nothing major, yet Gaara felt the urge to think of something other than how good the blond smelled or how it would feel to have Naruto touch him or to kiss him… No good was coming from his musings about the other boy, Gaara sadly reminded himself, it was only causing a certain problem to swell even more than ever before.

Naruto saw that Gaara was troubled about something, like the idiot that he mostly was, he scooted a little closer to the other boy and settled so intimately next to him that Naruto felt the shudder from the slender red head. He also felt something else that he chose to ignore for the moment. Maybe, just maybe, Gaara was needing to be loved, Naruto thought.

"I am sorry if you don't like it when I speak my mind." Naruto was rubbing his hands up and down the slender arms, at his touch, those said arms got goose bumps and Gaara closed his eyes. "I do like you Gaara… I just don't know how, I was jealous of that guy you were with yesterday…" Naruto's voice trailed off, he was unsure of how to continue, if he even should continue.

"Naruto…" Gaara's voice was slightly pained.

Naruto looked at the red head and softly smiled, "I just think that whatever it is that I feel for you is special. I don't want to have it ruined okay?"

Gaara nodded his head in agreement. He too didn't want to have the relationship ruined by doing something that either one would regret later. "I feel the same."

"Good!" Naruto grinned now, without thought, he kissed Gaara quickly, and stood up in all his naked glory. "I will turn into a prune if I stay in any more than I have already." He got out of the tub and wrapped a thick towel around his waist. "I'm gonna go get dressed then make some ramen. Do you want some too?"

Gaara watched Naruto, "Nah, I will just finish and then go to bed." Gaara seemed to feel a ache of loneliness as he watched Naruto get dressed.

"Okay." Naruto picked up the wet clothes after getting his shorts on that he slept in. "I'll just throw these in the laundry."

When Naruto left, Gaara wiped the stray tear away. What Naruto had told him should have cheered him, instead he was inexplicably saddened.

After Naruto had put the wet clothes in the laundry, he made his nightly ramen and sat at the counter to eat it. Why had he just said that to Gaara? He could kick himself… that was why he had left the tub in a rush. He had known that he was attracted to him as he had inserted his foot into his mouth. You know the phrase, open mouth, lift dirty smelly foot, insert into mouth as much as you possibly can; then you can gag on it.

He had known that if he had stayed in the tub he would have forced his attentions onto Gaara and he was not sure if that was what he wanted now. He could not deny that he was attracted, he also felt that Gaara felt the connection too, its just that he didn't want to have any regrets later. Gaara could still go to Boston with that guy from last night… what was his name? Oh yeah Seth…

Roger would need a home once the golden retriever was born, and Naruto knew that Gaara liked dogs. For when they had found the near dead Mr. Snuggles, Gaara had commented about loving dogs and cats both.

With thoughts plaguing him of how Gaara would have a happy life in Boston, Naruto cleaned up his mess. He was in the habit of in the evenings of picking up after himself, one time he hadn't and Iruka who was not normally a violent person, had become so enraged that Naruto now was careful that his mess was never noticeable by the time that Iruka woke up in the early mornings.

When he returned to the room, Gaara was on his bed that Baki had gotten him, Naruto couldn't tell if the red head was asleep so he went to his own bed and lay down. As he drifted off to sleep, he watched Gaara and contemplated on the future.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:**** I am not the creator of Naruto, I just happen to love the characters and want to see them in different situations.**

It was maybe two days later, on Tuesday morning, when Temari complained loudly to Baki.

"I just don't think it's fair," her voice was starting to irritate Naruto. "Gaara never gets in trouble, Kankuro gets a slap to the wrist, but me - I get the mega punishment. How can you ground me for a month? I have that volunteer work I have to organize and all that planning to do for the Halloween party."

Iruka whispered something to Baki, finally Baki looked over with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Alright Temari, I will reduce your sentence and have you out on good behavior on one condition."

Temari didn't notice the way Baki and Iruka looked at one another or the way Kankuro smirked and Gaara rolled his eyes, Naruto watched a little confused as Temari nodded her head, "What is the condition?" She only sounded vaguely apprehensive.

"You let us," he indicated everyone in the room, however to Temari it only looked like he had indicated him and Iruka. "Take you to planned parenthood."

At his words everyone in the room was speechless. Gaara's eyes were wide with shock as he gazed at Baki, Kankuro's mouth hung open in disbelief, then he burst out laughing. Naruto just couldn't believe his ears, he looked back and forth between the gaping Temari to the smug looking Baki.

After a brief moment of consideration, Temari nodded her head and said, "Okay…"

"Great, I will make the appointment today." Baki said as everyone got ready to leave for school.

On the way out the door, Kankuro commented, "Temari needs to have an escort to go get on the birth control pill…" he chuckled as they headed to the car.

"Shut it…" Temari warned.

"My dear sister is upset now, whatever shall I do?" Kankuro was enjoying teasing her.

In the car, Temari balled up her fist and swung at him, "You my dear brother will not be going so shut up."

"Temari needs someone to hold her hand to get on the pill…"

Gaara quietly watched the two of them interact, Naruto was raptly paying attention to the duo, it was just like watching a drama on TV. Compared to the morning, school was uneventful; Naruto made a tiny house in wood shop with the help of Shikamaru and Gaara.

The ride home was silent, Kankuro had gotten over the idea of Temari having to be 'escorted' to planned parenthood and was now focused on the homecoming plans for the weekend.

Gaara was silently reading one of his books, something about art.

Naruto fidgeted; he really didn't like silence. It irritated him. It's not that he liked loud noise, it's just that when no one was talking, he felt uncomfortable.

Lucky for him, the ride was almost over. Once inside the house, Baki called for them in the kitchen where he and Iruka were fixing some lasagna.

"We made the appointment for Friday at ten." Baki said as everyone entered.

"And why exactly do I need to know?" Kankuro asked.

"Because we are all going."

"What?" Kankuro and Temari both nearly yelled.

"Even Gaara and Naruto." Iruka added.

"What?" Naruto was shocked, why did he have to go to the clinic too?

"Don't look so confused Naruto." Iruka said. "I want you to get some information too. This way, when you start having sexual relations with someone, you will have the knowledge already."

Kankuro chuckled darkly, "Ah… So Naruto and Gaara have to go too, this should be entertaining…"

Gaara glared at his older brother and with his eyes shot daggers at him.

"Gaara baby," Kankuro teased, "You wound me, all they are going to do is give you some free condoms."

Naruto laughed at the expression on Gaara's face, "If looks could kill Kankuro, you would be so dead."

"I know," Kankuro laughed, "He does wound my heart though." he started to laugh harder, holding his side.

Ignoring them, Naruto cornered Iruka to ask, "Why do I have to go though? I am not having sex with anyone, nor will I… I don't plan on moving to Boston. Plus Friday is a day we get out of school for parent teacher conferences so we can't go."

"What's this about Boston?" Iruka was baffled.

"Yeah," Baki was listening, "I want to know about Boston too…"

Blushing slightly, Naruto sighed dramatically, "If you must insist on knowing, ask Gaara, he is going to move to Boston when he gets older so he can get married to that guy he is in love with."

"Is this true Gaara?" Baki asked a startled Gaara.

Gaara didn't know what to say…

"Gaara is in love?" Temari cooed, "Who is the lucky guy?"

Gaara was now turning just as red as his hair, and he slowly started to back away out of the kitchen.

Kankuro laughed, "You dweeb, you still haven't confessed have you?" he said it loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Shut up Kankuro." Gaara said while looking at Naruto.

Naruto for once in his life felt a slight twinge of guilt, just a slight twinge mind you. Not a full twinge where he would be apologizing over something that he had no clue as to why, just enough guilt though that had him look away.

"Gaara," Baki said at length, "Is this why you were talking about moving to Boston the other day?"

Gaara didn't look away from Naruto, he did nod his head and added, "The idea came to me from someone and I have decided that I will move to Boston when I get older so that I can marry him."

"What!" Naruto nearly screamed, "You can't…" looking around, he noticed all eyes were on him.

"Why not?" Gaara was feeling a little irritated that Naruto had got him into this Boston mess and now was not wanting him to go there.

"Because…" Naruto's voice trailed off… "I… I…"

"Our little drama queen is at a loss for words." Iruka laughed.

"Leave me alone." Naruto sulked as he left the kitchen, "I have to study for a test…"

The laughter followed him out of the kitchen. Why did he allow Gaara to get the best of him? It's not like he wanted the red head as more than a friend right? Just because he thought that Gaara was cute and nice had nothing to do with it; or the fact that lately he had been having thoughts about the red head, he blamed it on the bath incident of the other night. If he had never felt how soft Gaara's skin was or how nice it felt to have the red head between his legs, he would never have allowed Gaara to get to him so much.

Alone in his room, he turned the TV on and flipped through the channels. The only thing on that was good was a show called the Beautiful People. It was on LOGO and it was British, he loved British comedy's; nothing better than Monty Python.

The show had him laughing when Gaara walked in about ten minutes later.

"I thought you had to study."

"So I lied, sue me." Naruto was in a foul mood, he wasn't sure if it was from the way everyone had laughed about him earlier or the fact that Gaara now wanted to move to Boston with that guy.

"Is this show any good?" Gaara sat down on the sofa next to Naruto.

"Yeah." Naruto replied. He didn't feel like going into more detail, if Gaara wanted to know more, he could figure it out on his own.

They were silent, neither one paying attention to the show anymore and when a commercial came on they didn't notice. Both lost in their own thoughts.

"So," Naruto finally said, "You're wanting to move to Boston then?"

"No, not really…"

"Then why did you say it?"

Gaara looked at Naruto and shrugged his shoulders, "I lied, sue me."

"You can't copy me…"

"I just did…"

"…"

Their faces were mere centimeters apart from one another, they could feel each others breath on their skin, when Temari showed up, "Dinner time."

At her words, Gaara and Naruto pulled away from one another as if burned.

"Wash up then come eat." she said as she went back downstairs.

Naruto was the first one up; he headed to the bathroom, lost in thought. He had almost kissed Gaara. Not like the teasing kiss after the concert; it was like a kiss he would only share with the one that he loved. He didn't love Gaara did he?

Splashing some cold water over his face, Naruto floated down the wide river some refer to as denial. On his way downstairs, he vowed that he would put more effort into finding a girlfriend, one that would keep his mind off of a certain red headed room mate.

For the next few days, nothing much happened, Naruto studied his part for the play in drama and worked a little towards finding a girlfriend. Subconsciously he compared all the perspective girls to Gaara, and found something wrong with all of them. On Friday, he had forgotten all about having to traipse to planned parenthood with the family so that Temari could get on the pill, that is until Iruka reminded him at breakfast.

"Hurry up and eat so that we can clean the kitchen and go to planned parenthood." Iruka wiped a spot of egg off his mouth with a napkin.

Groaning, Temari said, "Can't we go alone?"

Kankuro started to chuckle, "Hell no… I ain't missing this for the world."

Temari rolled her eyes at her brother and complained, "Can't you talk properly?"

"It will be a good experience for Naruto and Gaara." Iruka said while Baki nodded in agreement.

"Gaara is not heterosexual," Temari groaned, "As for Naruto, I'm pretty sure he's Asexual."

Naruto grinned, "Why thank you for noticing Temari."

Everyone started to laugh, Kankuro laughed so hard that tears formed in his eyes.

"Naruto," Gaara softly said, "Asexual means you have no desire for sex or no function…"

"What!" Naruto stood up offended, "I take offense to that Temari! I do want to have sex, I just…haven't found the right girl yet."

"Or boy…" Kankuro mumbled.

At Kankuro's words, Naruto turned his head so fast it was a blur of movement, "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Never mind," Kankuro slyly said, "It will 'cum' to you soon enough."

At Naruto's quizzical expression, Temari chuckled while Gaara rolled his eyes at Kankuro, "Stop being such a pervert."

With that, realization hit Naruto, and he too laughed. "Good one Kankuro…"

"At least someone appreciates my humor." Kankuro teasingly huffed.

"Now, now boys," Baki said as he cleared the table, "Stop this talk right now before you traumatize Iruka."

Iruka was indeed just sitting open mouthed staring at the three teenaged boys. His mouth was moving as if he wanted to say something, yet no words were forming.

Naruto waved his hand in front of the older man and sighed in frustration, "Iruka, we have to go."

Slowly Iruka's eyes seemed to focus on Naruto, "Yeah… we have to get to the clinic."

"That's the spirit." Kankuro laughed. "Go get 'em sport."

"He's not an athlete." Temari said in exasperation.

"Yeah, but you are in bed I hear…"

"Kankuro, do you want me to castrate you so you can never have kids and won't have to worry about 'safe sex!'" Temari went chasing the fleeing Kankuro.

After Temari and Kankuro calmed down, the kitchen cleaned, and everyone was piled in the mini van, Naruto wondered why the whole family had to go; how embarrassing. He just hoped that no one he knew would show up, God forbid if they did and started asking questions about what he was doing there. Putting his sunglasses on to feel somewhat incognito, he felt better as they all got out at the clinic, never once realizing that everyone knew that he wore those glasses in the first place.

No one was in the sterile office with posters of women in varying stages of pregnancy at different ages. One poster even showed a girl who was smoking a cigarette and on one side of the poster she was pretty, on the other side it showed what the cigarette was doing to her body.

"Ahh…" Kankuro chuckled loudly, "Free condoms. Gaara, Naruto, you two best get some, you never know when you might want to use one." he winked at the two boys.

Gaara blushed and pocketed a couple, seeing this, Naruto did also.

"Is that all the condoms you two think you will need?"

"Shut up Kankuro." Gaara seethed with rage building up.

"Touché…" Kankuro put his hands up in self defense, backing away.

"Now you see what it feels like Gaara." Temari soothed Gaara's frazzled nerves.

Naruto sat down in the corner, just watching everyone. For the first time in his young life, he felt uncomfortable. He was not used to having to go to clinic's with people to get them ready for sex, even though according to Kankuro, Temari was already having sex. And with Shikamaru at that. Just the thought of his best friend having sex made him feel odd, what about Choji, Kiba and Sasuke? Were all his friends having sex now? That meant he was the only one that wasn't. What if he wasn't ready for that kind of commitment with anyone? Then a image of Gaara naked in the tub entered his mind, making him shake his head to get the image out. He groaned as a part of him responded against his will at what those condoms meant if it was just him and Gaara alone.

Hands over his face, he absently heard the nurse call Temari back into an examination room when the office door opened and in walked Sasuke.

When their eyes met, Naruto wanted to look away. Sasuke was with Suigetsu. So it was true, Naruto thought, the two of them were now together.

"Naruto…" Sasuke said as they sat down next to Naruto.

"Sasuke," Naruto said in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Suigetsu and I wanted to talk to someone about our relationship. Suigetsu, this is a friend of mine Naruto, Naruto this is Suigetsu, my-"

"I know, your boyfriend." Naruto interrupted, "Sai told me that you two were going out."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and said, "Why is everyone so interested in my life?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto said, "Maybe it's cause you're an interesting person."

Suigetsu nodded his head, "That he is…" a dreamy look went over his pale features, making Naruto wonder just what the other teen was thinking. "So, Naruto," Suigetsu was saying, "Are you here for the talk as well?"

"Talk?" Naruto asked confused.

Kankuro chuckled and Gaara was stoic as they listened in on the conversation.

"Yeah," Suigetsu said as the office door opened and let in more people. "The homosexual talk, the one that Sasuke and I are here for."

The man that had entered looked over sharply at the word Sasuke, it was the stalker guy that had a thing for the dark haired Uchiha.

Naruto blushed, "I am not gay…" he didn't know why he was so adamant.

He had been watching Gaara as he spoke, and now when Gaara looked down slightly, Naruto realized that what he said must have hurt the red head's feelings and once more he felt that irritating thing called guilt.

To get away from the subject, Naruto said, "Hey Sasuke, isn't that your stalker friend?"

"Shut up Naruto." Sasuke was glaring daggers at the man who was watching him.

"It is," Suigetsu said, "I wish he would leave us alone."

They all watched as the flamboyant man sashayed around the office picking up one pamphlet after another while watching Sasuke. The nurse saw him and said, "Do you have an appointment?"

"No," his voice was like poisoned honey, "I was just wanting to get some information for my, uh… nephew."

"I think you have all the pamphlets in your hand sir, so if you don't have an appointment, then please leave the office."

The man snubbed his nose at the nurse and left, nearly slamming the door as he retreated.

"Sasuke, Suigetsu," she motioned the two boys back, "Please follow me."

"Bye Naruto." Suigetsu waved. He was real friendly and Naruto liked him instantly.

"Nice talking to you two." Naruto said as they left.

Once they were gone, it was only another fifteen minutes before Temari returned holding a brown bag.

"Let's go…" she tried vainly to rush everyone out the door. Before leaving, Kankuro pocketed a few more condoms and putting some in Gaara's hand.

"Here take some more." Kankuro said.

"Kankuro, come on…" Temari was losing her patience.

Gaara blushed and pocketed the ones that had been handed to him. The thought of Gaara using condoms somehow irritated Naruto. It wasn't as if he had any claim on the red head; he was not gay, so why did it irritate him?

With these thoughts, he followed the others out the door.

_**A/N: **__Sorry I have not updated in how long… uh oh yeah, that long. Its no excuse, however I have been sick the past couple of days. Well much thanks goes out to my wonderful beta for doing this chapter… Nekoyoka Thank you!_


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Naruto, so please do not sue me! I have nothing other than my imagination…**

_**A/N:**__ Sorry for the long delay, I have been having some personal problems… Word of caution, everyone is a kiss whore in this chapter. Also I would like to thank the wonderful reviews I have received for this… I give you all 3_

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Homecoming weekend, Naruto and Gaara went to the parade and the game together, the dance though the Rejects performed. After the dance the band and a few close friends went to the beach and had a bon fire, they all fell asleep listening to the crash of the pacific ocean.

The three weeks between homecoming and Halloween were chaotic, Naruto put on a performance of Hamlet in drama, Kankuro and Gaara were busy with decorating the school along with a few other students. Temari was still getting as many people to do her community service that she wanted everyone to do at the local nursing home. Every Saturday they would go to the nursing home and play BINGO with a bunch of cranky, stale candy passing elderly people.

Kankuro was particularly pleased with his bingo partner, it was a old guy named Eustace, he called everyone stupid, and grumbled each time someone other than him would call out bingo.

Often on the walk home, Kankuro would call out, "Stupid stone, got in my way…" or, "Stupid clouds blocking the sun." To say the least, the old cranky man was rubbing off on Kankuro; and Temari regretted pairing the two up when she did it out of spite, thinking Kankuro would be miserable.

When the big event happened, Gaara and Naruto were the only ones in the kitchen to witness it. Naruto had promised to make some cookies for the old people in the nursing home, and Gaara was helping. They started to bicker over the size and shape of the cookies when they forgot that some were already in the oven. What alerted them also alerted the entire house, the beeping of the smoke detector which was in the hall to the basement.

"What the hell is that noise?" Naruto panicked, he grabbed a towel, and turned around to see the horror of smoke billowing out of the oven.

"The kitchen is on fire." Iruka yelled coming in from the living room, followed closely by Baki, Temari, Shikamaru, and Kankuro.

"I should have known that you two couldn't make a simple batch of cookies for the elderly." Temari berated Gaara and Naruto.

Kankuro laughed, "Stupid noise, made me hang up on my girl friend."

"Shut up with that stupid stuff." Temari said.

Iruka and Baki were putting the fire out, throwing open the windows and doors to air out the room, "Didn't you smell something burning?" Iruka asked as he pulled out the dozen burnt to a crisp cookies and placed them in the sink, pouring water over them.

"Now that you mention it…" Naruto said, "I just thought that they were cooking."

"Yeah," Gaara added, sticking up for his crush, "We were too busy arguing to smell anything burning."

"What were you two arguing about?" Kankuro asked.

"Gaara seems to think that my cookies are too small."

"They are…"

"Are not…"

"You two shut up." Iruka yelled over the still buzzing alarm, "And will someone shut that damn thing up? Take out the batteries or something…"

So in the end, Naruto got grounded and the result was that he would not be able to attend the Halloween party that night at Shikamaru's house. Gaara was amazingly calm about the entire ordeal, he looked a little sympathetic about having Naruto in trouble, yet never once did he volunteer to get in trouble like he had previously done.

In the bed room with Temari, Shikamaru, Kankuro and Gaara, Naruto came up with a plan; he would script out a scenario and do it for Iruka, to get him able to go to the party. Grudgingly everyone agreed. Shikamaru knew that nothing good would come of it, they had tried this many times in the past, to no avail.

Once Naruto felt confidant that they had memorized their lines, they all went back downstairs to confront Iruka.

"What do you all want?" Iruka sighed in exasperation.

"I know you are upset with me Iruka," Naruto began.

As if on cue, Temari said, "We want to plead with you to let Naruto go to the party."

Wow, Naruto thought, she is convincing, she would make a pretty good actress.

"We can keep an eye on him…" Kankuro said after a moment of silence and a jab to the ribs from Temari.

"Troublesome though it is… wait… I forgot my line…" Shikamaru pulled out a piece of paper and in a monotone recited, "He will not burn down my kitchen so you need not fear."

"Don't you know how to act?" Naruto sighed in exasperation, "That's why this never works."

"I am not the thespian." Shikamaru dryly commented.

"I am not a lesbian. I don't even like girls."

"Oh… Naruto doesn't like girls…" Iruka said.

Gaara laughed, Kankuro snorted, and Temari gaped open mouthed at Naruto as Shikamaru quirked his eyebrow, "I never once called you a lesbian… where is your ears? I called you a thespian."

"What's that?" the drama queen who believed he knew everything; didn't know what a thespian was, and here he is in drama…

Exasperated, Iruka said, "A thespian is someone associated with the theatre, like an actor. Which you need to learn more about I take it…"

"Well can I at least go to the party?" Naruto got down on his knees and begged.

Iruka looked at his nephew and smiled, "On one condition."

"Name it, I will do it."

"You clean the kitchen for a month."

"A month? Are you trying to turn me into a slave? I think that is called child labor, and there is a law against it."

"That is called punishment for trying to burn down my kitchen."

"Fine," Naruto grumbled. "Just be warned if you get arrested for child labor violations it was not me that told… just remember that."

Iruka tried to hide the smile that threatened to break through his face, he knew that Naruto would always be a drama queen and silently wondered if it was perhaps his own fault.

"Well, enjoy the party then Naruto." Iruka waved as Naruto stalked out of the room.

Iruka watched as everyone went their separate ways, tonight he would be alone in the house, Baki had started a new job that was having him gone at nights, and with all the kids going to Shikamaru's for the party, he would be alone. So he decided to go out as well. Gai had invited him over to play cards with Asuma, and Kakashi. Getting his car keys, he left the house, planning on enjoying his evening out.

Naruto enjoyed the party, he goofed off with Kiba, Choji and Shino. Shikamaru and Temari were boring, all they did was sit their and talk while they cuddled on the sofa. Kankuro got in a fight with his most current girlfriend, and then promptly disappeared with Shino of all people. Hinata was following Naruto around like a lost puppy making him feel uncomfortable. Neji and Sai were making out by the pool, Gaara was just watching everything as unknown people milled around.

"What's the matter Gaara?" Naruto sat down next to Gaara, "You seem sad."

Startled, Gaara looked over at Naruto and shrugged his shoulders, "I just don't like this many people around, I am not too much of a people person."

"We could pretend it's just you and me." Naruto suggested, "that way you wont feel so uncomfortable."

Gaara was touched, Naruto was in demand as the life of the party, and yet here he was spending time with the shy Gaara. "It's ok. They all want to be with you…"

Naruto almost blurted out that all he really wanted to do was be with Gaara, yet he knew that sounded gay, and he was not gay.

"I think it would be okay if I stay with you," Naruto finally said, "I see all of these dweebs in school…" he failed to mention that he spent most of his time with Gaara in and out of school. To him, that was moot.

Gaara nodded his head, they had to lean in towards one another due to the music being so loud, and to the observer they looked like they were already involved in a romantic relationship.

"Gaara?" Naruto softly said, his mouth right by Gaara's ear so that Gaara could hear him, "I need to ask you something, it's personal okay? Swear to me that no one here or anywhere will ever find out about this ok?"

Gaara nodded and slightly, glanced over at Naruto, their heads so close now that it looked like they were about to kiss, said, "You can trust me, I will never breath a word about what you tell me in confidence."

"I took one of Temari's pills."

"What do you mean?"

"What happens if a guy takes a woman's birth control pill?" when Naruto said it, someone had turned the music off to put a different song on and everyone in the area overheard what Naruto asked.

Shikamaru laughed, "Then the guy becomes a he/she."

"What?" Naruto yelled as he stood up, "I don't want to become a he/she… I like being a guy."

"Naruto, you idiot…" Temari shook her head, "I don't think anything will happen to you."

Gaara was looking up at Naruto and smiled, "I think Temari is right. I also like you just the way you are…"

Naruto felt warm and fuzzy inside at Gaara's words, "Thank you Gaara."

Kiba was leaning against the wall laughing, "Naruto is going to turn into a he/she…"

"It's not funny…" Naruto complained.

"How wrong you are Naruto." Kiba approached Naruto, and slid his hand into Naruto's shirt, "Damn, when am I gonna get to feel the female breasts…"

"Thank you Kiba for not being vulgar." Temari said, pointedly looking at Shikamaru.

"What?" Shikamaru held his hands up in self defense, "I call them tittys, is that a crime?"

"It's better than jugs…" Naruto said as he swatted Kiba's roving hand out from his shirt, glancing at Gaara who seemed mildly upset over the entire discussion.

"I only called them jugs once," Shikamaru laughed, "And that was when we were like in diapers."

"You call last year diapers?" Kiba put his arm around Naruto, trying to pull the blond into his arms.

"You remember it too don't you Kiba?" Naruto deftly side stepped Kiba and sat down next to Gaara once more.

"You two have amnesia…" Shikamaru said, "Or you are delusional."

"Choji!" Kiba called for the other reject who was just watching everything happen while shoving potato chips into his mouth, "You remember when Shikamaru called the female breasts jugs?"

Choji nodded his head, "Last day of school last year, he said something about that teacher that had the large jugs flirting with him."

"She did flirt with me." Shikamaru bragged.

"You just admitted it," Temari laughed as she playfully swatted him.

"I know," Sai seemed to say from nowhere, "Why don't we play spin the bottle." his eyes twinkled merrily.

"Oh no…" Kiba groaned.

"Sounds fun." Temari smiled as well, both her and Sai glanced pointedly at Naruto and Gaara.

Naruto shrugged, not realizing the stares by all the others directed at him and Gaara, "Lets do it then."

Gaara blushed, he noticed that most of the others were watching him and Naruto, and he knew that they wanted them to kiss, he nearly said no, when Naruto pulled him down on the carpeted floor with the others. They were all sitting in a circle, Shikamaru, Temari, Choji, Hinata, Neji, Sai, Kiba, Naruto, then him, Gaara. Sai pulled out a bottle and placed it in the middle. "The rules are simple," Sai smiled, "Whoever the bottle lands on gets to pick who you kiss and it has to be a kiss that has meaning. It will be timed, for two minutes, and the person can pick themselves if they so desire."

"So who goes first?" Naruto inquired.

"Shikamaru," Sai said, "It is his house and he is the host."

"The host with the most…" Naruto and Kiba said in unison.

"You two…" Shikamaru grinned at his two friends.

"Start already." Naruto prompted, he was impatient for his turn.

"Patience, Naruto." Shikamaru lazily put his hand on the bottle and gave it a spin.

All eyes were focused on it as it spun, slowly it landed on Choji.

Choji smiled and said, "You have to kiss…" he seemed deep in thought, "Hinata…"

Shikamaru shrugged and said, "Okay." he leaned over and kissed the startled girl.

As the seconds ticked by, Kiba whistled and leaned in to watch. "Use the tongues…" he said. "Yeah, that's it…"

"Are you a pervert Kiba?" Neji asked as his cousin was being kissed and turning red from everyone watching.

"Only for your sweet little cousin." Kiba admitted.

"You like Hinata?" Naruto asked.

Kiba blushed slightly as Shikamaru and Hinata pulled away from one another after the two minutes had expired, nodding his head so that Hinata didn't see, Kiba changed the subject, "It's Choji's turn now."

Choji took the moment and put his bag of chips down, he gave the bottle a twirl and it landed facing Gaara.

"So Gaara," Temari smiled, "Who does Choji have to kiss?"

Gaara looked around the circle, "You, Temari."

Temari got on her hands and knees and leaned in to kiss the slightly blushing Choji. "Come here big boy…" she teased him.

Wolf whistles went throughout the room as Choji and Temari kissed. Gaara groaned, he knew that it would be his turn next and he was slightly afraid that he would have to kiss Naruto once more with all these people watching. The thought excited him, it also filled him with trepidation though due to how he knew his body would respond to it. To the blond the kiss would just be fun again, it would be meaningless, just like the last one that had taken his breath away.

Temari and Choji's kiss was over all too soon, then all eyes were on Gaara, watching him. "Hurry it up slow poke." Sai smiled at the red head.

Gulping, Gaara put his hand on the bottle, it felt as if the bottle were a bomb against his hand, if he caused it to spin, what would he do if it landed on someone that he didn't want it to land on, namely Naruto. He wanted to kiss the blond, truly he did, just not like this.

With a quick turn of his wrist, he caused the bottle to spin, as if mesmerized, he watched it turn around and around. The neck started to slow down and it stopped on Naruto of all people.

"So who does Gaara have to kiss?" Sai asked Naruto.

"You can always pick yourself." Neji added with a smile.

Naruto put his finger to his chin thoughtfully, slowly he looked at everyone. He could tell that they were getting impatient for him, so he just blurted out the one that would respect the red head the most. "Sai."

Gaara shyly looked over at Naruto's night time phone confidant and watched as the raven headed boy grinned and leaned over to him.

"Don't worry love," Sai said reassuringly to Gaara, "I wont bite you… unless you want me to." With those words, Sai kissed Gaara, it was a sweet kiss that had everyone a little uncomfortable due to the other two being steamy ones. Naruto now wished he had chosen himself instead, for some unknown reason, he didn't like the way Sai was holding Gaara or the way Gaara was making little pleasuring moans from within his throat as Sai explored Gaara's mouth with his tongue. Naruto watched the clock and as soon as the two minutes was up, he deftly pulled Gaara away from Sai.

"Time's up." he said as an explanation.

"You are no fun," Sai playfully teased Naruto.

"You have Neji…"

"I was given permission by you though to kiss Gaara."

"Go back to Neji…"

"Someone's jealous…" Temari laughed.

Gaara was just now realizing that his sister was right, Naruto was indeed acting a little jealous.

"I am not jealous…" Naruto denied just a little too quickly.

Neji also was slightly upset over the fact that Sai and Gaara had kissed so sweetly, "Hurry it up Naruto and spin the bottle."

Taking the chance to drop the subject, Naruto did spin it. The neck spun wildly and slowly landed on Neji, who smiled dreamily.

"Me. I want to have a kiss from Naruto, so he has to kiss me." Everyone looked at Neji as if he had lost his mind. Naruto only shrugged his shoulders and leaned in for the kiss.

He was breathless, Naruto had never kissed so intensely before, the feel of Neji's lips against his and the way Neji's tongue devoured his mouth made him slightly weak kneed. He momentarily forgot everything until he was pulled away by a grinning Shikamaru. Blinking his eyes a few times he realized that the others were all watching him. Most likely he looked like a fool, at the moment though he could care less. The feel of Neji's lips against his was still going through him, and he absently put his hand over his mouth to recall the feel. As his head caught up to his surroundings, he felt a slight twinge of guilt towards Gaara from the kiss. He had wanted his first 'real' kiss to be with Gaara, he now realized. Removing his hand from his mouth, he chanced a glance at the red head and saw that Gaara was not showing any emotion what so ever.

"Come on Neji, spin the damn bottle so we can continue." Temari said, she seemed more than a little upset, and was glaring daggers at Neji.

Once Neji did it landed on Hinata, she wisely said for Neji to kiss Sai.

Hinata had a turn and it landed on Choji, he had her kiss Kiba to which everyone watched as the sparks flew as the two nearly made out with their tongues. Choji spun the bottle and it landed on Naruto once more.

"Okay…" Naruto grinned, "You have to kiss Shikamaru."

Once they had kissed, Naruto spun the bottle and it landed on Temari.

She grinned like she had just won the lottery and before anyone could say anything, she said, "Gaara."

Naruto and Gaara looked at one another as if seeing each other for the first time, even though they were sitting next to each other.

"Go on…" Temari urged.

Naruto leaned in to Gaara, and ever so gently their lips met. The only part touching were their lips. For Naruto it seemed that the world had come crashing to a halt, the only thing that mattered was Gaara, he could taste the soda that Gaara had been drinking in place of beer, he could smell the musky aroma that was clearly all Gaara, and he could feel the warmth of his breath softly caress his cheek.

His thoughts in turmoil, Naruto pulled away first. He needed to think, this was not good… Jumping up he ran out of the room, leaving everyone in a daze watching him flee.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own the rights to 'Naruto' that is the wonderful Masashi Kishimoto… I do own this plot, as pathetic as it is…**

_**A/N:**__ I hope this chapter is taken with a grain of salt, it is leading to a small amount of 'drama' for Naruto and Iruka. I wish to thank all those who have reviewed and or added this to favorites or alerts… You keep me going when I feel that I should just give up on this one. Side note on my other story's … they are being rewritten due to some mistakes I made on the 'cat' series._

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Naruto found himself back at his house, no lights were on and no sign of anyone around. Where was Iruka when you needed him the most? He mused to himself.

Sitting in the basement on the recliner that was in front of the large TV, Naruto settled in for a wait to talk to his guardian.

Why did it feel different than kissing Gaara at the start of the school year? Nothing about the red head had changed, nothing about himself had changed either. So why did he feel different? And why the hell had he gotten jealous when Gaara had kissed Sai? With these thoughts on his mind, Naruto leaned back in the recliner and closed his eyes, in his mind he was reliving all the details from the party.

With his eyes closed, he drifted off to sleep, slightly curling up in the recliner with disturbing dreams of a certain red head mocking him.

"Naruto," a soft voice broke through the dream, "Wake up…"

Opening his eyes, he saw the face that had haunted his dreams. "Gaara?"

"Come on, lets get you up to bed."

"I need to talk to Iruka though…"

"He's still not home and its nearly three in the morning."

"Wha-" Naruto sat up straight. "Where is he? He has never stayed out all night before."

"I don't know." Gaara too looked a little confused.

"Do you think that their relationship is okay?" Naruto was worried. If they ended up breaking up, then Gaara would have to leave with Baki.

"You mean Baki and Iruka's?"

"Yeah…"

"I don't know, all I know for sure is that they argue more and spend less time together."

"Yeah…" Naruto stood up and headed towards the stairs that led up to the main floor. "I hope they can work things out."

"Yea I hope so too. I know that they rushed into a relationship and that is no good."

"I know, I had never met any of you before and when Iruka told me about you guys I thought that it was all too sudden." Naruto grabbed a banana as he went through the kitchen, peeling it as he walked up to the second floor. "What about Temari and Kankuro? Are they back now too?"

"Temari stayed with Shikamaru, and Kankuro took off with Shino."

"So we are alone?" a slight thrill went through Naruto at being alone with Gaara in the house. Then the realization of what he had said hit him. "Wait… Kankuro is with Shino?"

Gaara nodded his head and followed Naruto into their attic room. "When you left the party they came back and were all over each other… then they just left again."

"So they hooked up?"

"Yeah… I think it was a rebound cause Kankuro got dumped by his girlfriend. Whenever a girl dumps him, he goes out with a boy."

"So he is bi?"

"Yeah."

"Wow… I would have never guessed it." Naruto whistled under his breath.

Gaara was getting changed and Naruto felt like a pervert, however he couldn't stop watching the red head take off his clothes. Softly he groaned, he was slowly torturing himself. He realized then that he liked Gaara. In fact he liked him a lot.

"Sleep with me tonight…" Naruto softly said. Wanting to smack himself as he said it.

Gaara froze, his bare chest heaving with his breath his one arm still in the sleeve. "What?"

"Sleep with me on my bed…" Naruto blushed, "We can cuddle…" It sounded lame, even to his own ears, yet Gaara slowly smiled and nodded his head.

Naruto pulled his own clothes off once he was done with his banana, he put his shorts on and got under the blankets. At first the two teens only looked at one another, neither one moving towards the other. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Naruto scooted closer to Gaara and put his head on the red heads shoulder while putting his arm around Gaara's bony hips. Gaara absently was playing with Naruto's hair and slowly the two drifted off to a peaceful slumber.

"How sweet." a voice woke them both up as the sun was streaming in through the window. At first they were both a little disoriented then they remembered the early morning hours and first Naruto followed by Gaara blushed. They were still in each others arms and it felt like heaven to Naruto to feel the bare skin against his own.

"What's the deal bro?" It was both Kankuro and Temari. "Did I miss all the fun or what?"

"Shut up Kankuro." Temari said, "You had your own fun with Shino."

"Yes…" Kankuro grinned from ear to ear. "Let's go and give these two love birds some privacy."

"Yes…" Temari led her twin out of the room, "We will fix some breakfast for them."

"Wait-" Gaara said, it was too late, they had left the room, softly closing the door behind them. "Its not…" his voice trailed off from not being too sure as to what it was exactly that he and Naruto were to one another.

Naruto got out of bed, unsure himself as to what it was between the two of them.

He didn't look at the red head as he headed towards the bathroom, he had a slight morning problem that he had to take care of; and didn't want to aggravate it by looking at the cause of the problem. He seriously had to talk to Iruka ASAP.

Ten minutes later, Naruto left the bathroom, feeling better. Gaara was still sitting on the bed, he looked like he was about to fall back to sleep. His hair was tousled from sleep and his eyes were dreamy looking, the way he looked just caused Naruto to groan inwardly, why did he have to look so … Naruto couldn't find the exact word, just that Gaara looked delectable. And when Gaara noticed that Naruto was watching him, he looked up at Naruto with his beautiful eyes, full of uncertainty and questions.

"I'll be downstairs." Naruto said as he turned and headed out of the room. He didn't want to face Gaara right now, he couldn't, he was too much of a chicken at the moment.

Temari was at the stove in the kitchen, "Want some juice?" she asked Naruto as he entered.

"Sure," Naruto poured some and sat at the island bar. "Is Iruka still asleep?"

"He's still not back." Kankuro said from the doorway leading to the pantry.

"What about Baki?"

"M.I.A." Kankuro stated.

"They must be together." Temari said as she scrambled some eggs.

Naruto hoped they were right. A gnawing apprehension grew through the pit of his stomach and he didn't like it one bit. He didn't know why, he just knew that something was about to happen and it would not be pleasant.

"Is Gaara still upstairs?" Temari asked as she dished out some food for Naruto.

"Yeah."

"So tell me what are your intentions with my little bro."

"Shut up Kankuro." Temari swatted at him, "Don't scare him."

"I just want to know how Naruto feels." Kankuro said in his defense.

"It's none of our business," Temari sat down across from Naruto, "If they want to talk to us then we will know, otherwise stay out of it."

Naruto blushed, for the first time he appreciated the tact that Temari had. He also knew that Kankuro was just concerned about Gaara, and didn't mean to be rude.

"What is none of your business?" Gaara asked as he walked into the kitchen rubbing his eyes absently.

"The relationship you and Naruto have." Kankuro pouted as he said it.

"Oh…" Gaara sat down next to Naruto and neither one looked at one another.

No one spoke as they ate the eggs and bacon that Temari had fixed. They were about done when the front door opened and they all heard a familiar loud voice boisterously say, "It's the power of youth Lee."

"Gai!" Naruto stood up and went into the front room, "Lee…" they were both standing in the foyer with Iruka between them. "Iruka, where have you been all night and where is Baki?"

Iruka blearily looked up, "Baki is still not home? He should have been home hours ago."

"Forget Baki," Naruto said, "Where have you been? What have you been doing without me?" If anyone hadn't known better, they would have assumed that Naruto was the parent and Iruka the child, that was how upset Naruto was. "I was about to call 911 to go find you."

Kankuro chuckled and said, "You don't call 911 to go find someone."

"Well what ever number it is, I was going to call it."

"Forget me." Iruka said, "Why is Baki still gone? His shift ended at four this morning. I thought he would be upset that I was gone." Iruka pulled out his cell phone and dialed Baki's number by heart. "Fuck…" he mumbled when it went to voice mail. "He has it turned off."

"He never turns it off unless…" Temari's voice trailed off as she noticed that Iruka was more than a little upset.

"Come on…" Kankuro pulled on Naruto and Gaara, "Lets go finish our meal."

Lee followed them into the kitchen. "I wanna know where Iruka was all night though." Naruto complained as he was led back into the bright kitchen.

"Why didn't you all invite me to the party last night?" Lee said while chewing on a piece of bacon.

"We did invite you." Kankuro said, "You never showed up though."

"Oh yeah… I had to stay and take care of the slosh heads." Lee grabbed a piece of toast, "Man Iruka can not handle hard liquor. When he drinks though he is funny as hell. He tells some good stories."

"So he got drunk last night?" Naruto accused.

"Yeah, Asuma was trying to give cigarettes to the trick or treaters, Gai was giving out bags of candy at a time, and Kakashi was just sitting there watching Iruka like a hawk."

"So in a nut shell you were the babysitter?" Kankuro asked.

Solemnly Lee nodded his head. "And I never get paid, you know how Gai and Kakashi are Naruto."

Naruto nodded his head as well, "You should have Iruka pay you though. Want me to ask him?"

"Nah, I had fun watching the antics of four drunks trying to play poker that ends up into go fish then old maid. it's a shame you missed it Naruto. So how was the party?"

"Naruto and Gaara slept together." Kankuro said.

"Whaaat?" Lee stood up and dropped the half eaten piece of toast.

From the doorway a glass shattered. Everyone turned to see Iruka standing in the door holding his hand as if a cup were in it, behind him was Gai.

"He has it all wrong." Naruto stood up.

"Dummy." Temari mumbled to Kankuro under her breath.

Before Naruto could explain, Baki came in from the garage looking tired.

"Iruka." Baki said.

"Naruto, I want to talk to you later, you too Gaara." Iruka said as he turned to face the late Baki. "Baki, did you work late?"

"Uh, yeah." Baki tossed his keys on the counter. "I had to do a few things before going home."

"Really? So how is it that it is nearly noon and you got off at four?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now." Baki started to walk away.

"Don't you dare walk away from me." Iruka grabbed Baki by the arm and Baki pushed Iruka's hand off.

"I said I don't want to talk about it now."

"You fucking bastard, who is he?"

"Calm down Iruka." Gai said placating.

"Uh you guys," Naruto nervously said, "I think that is our cue to go."

"Right behind ya." Kankuro said.

All of them went up to the attic and sat on Naruto's bed. They could still hear the noise from down stairs, things breaking and words that were said were muffled yet it was clear that world war ten was currently being held in the house.

"Iruka sure is pissed." Kankuro said, "Why the hell did Baki have to go and screw around on him?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Baki has a habit of jumping from one relationship into another while still in one." Kankuro stated in a tone of voice that was spelling out the doom that was sure to come when Gaara, Temari and Kankuro would all have to leave with Baki.

"Nooo…." Naruto clung to Temari and Gaara that were next to him, "You all can't leave, I wont allow it."

"Sorry Naruto," Temari sadly said.

Naruto absently put his head on Gaara's shoulder while pulling Temari into his lap just about.

"So tell me about you two." Lee said, indicating Gaara and Naruto.

"Nothing much to tell." Naruto sadly said, "We kissed last night and slept together."

"I hope you practice safe sex." Lee said.

"It's not like that…" Naruto said while Gaara nodded his head.

"We cuddled." Gaara's voice was soft and whimsical.

"That's it?" Kankuro sat up straight.

"We, unlike you, are not whore's. We, unlike you respect each other. Right Naruto?"

Naruto nodded his head.

"Wait…" Kankuro argued, "I respect Shino, and I can't help it if I get lonely so don't call me a whore."

"What the fuck!" Lee jumped up off the bed, "Pardon my French," he got up into Kankuro's face, "Are we on the same page here? Shino, as in the bug loving guy that is always moody and brooding around the halls at school, saving all the bugs that people try to kill? Is it that Shino?"

"You know him too?" Kankuro smirked.

Lee's jaw dropped, if this was a manga than his jaw would be on the floor.

"Trying to catch some fly's?" Temari asked jokingly.

"Sorry." Lee mumbled. He closed his mouth, "I just didn't know you swung that way Kankuro."

"You knew Shino did?" Naruto asked.

"It's obvious." Lee said.

"Oh, I never noticed." Naruto said. The sounds coming from down stairs was starting to calm down.

"How long do we have to stay away do you think?" Temari asked.

"Don't know…" Naruto admitted, "I only seen Iruka this mad once before, when Shikamaru and I were in the attic and the cops showed up to find us. That was world war nine."

"Ha-ha…" Kankuro said, "World war nine huh? What is this one then?"

"Ten."

Gaara chuckled, it felt nice to Naruto who could actually feel the vibrations of it against his side.

"Who wants to brave a look see?" Naruto asked.

Lee sat down next to Kankuro and said, "Maybe we should wait for a few more minutes."

"So what story did Iruka tell last night?" Naruto asked Lee.

"Something about how you nearly burned down the house and he had to put out a massive fire in the kitchen. That was why I went in the kitchen, I didn't see any sign of a fire."

Kankuro laughed and Naruto groaned. "It wasn't massive, just the cookies that I was making to take to the old people."

"Yeah, now I am going to have to buy some to give to Eustace." Kankuro was laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach.

"Its not funny." Temari complained.

"It is… Iruka was so pissed that I thought he was going to yank Naruto around and throw him in a dungeon."

"Imagine that only a hundred times worse." Naruto said. "That's how he is right now."

"Well I no longer hear the things banging around." Temari said in a near whisper.

Everyone was silent straining their ears to hear any sound. Nothing, the house was silent.

"Who wants to go down and see what the damage is?" Temari asked.

No one said anything, they all looked at one another. It was during this silence that the door to the attic opened and in walked Shikamaru.

"What the hell did you do to your house Naruto?" he lazily drawled as he walked into the room.

"Don't look at me." Naruto complained, "it wasn't me. You can even ask Temari."

Temari nodded her head and allowed Shikamaru to sit next to her.

"Lee…" Shikamaru said, "What are you doing here without Gai?"

"He is downstairs calming Iruka down." Lee said confidently.

"Uh no one is down there…"

"What?" Naruto and Lee said in perfect unison.

Naruto got up and headed downstairs, followed closely by the others. Sure enough the house was silent, deathly silent. No sign of Iruka or Gai anywhere.

The living room was trashed along with the dining room and kitchen. "Ugh!" Naruto said at seeing the destruction, "I better start cleaning…"

Shikamaru nodded, "I would help, yet my parents need me back, I just came over to tell Kankuro that Shino is waiting for him in my basement."

"You couldn't have called?" Naruto teased.

"It was too troublesome to find the phone."

"Do you mind if I go with you guys?" Lee asked.

"Feel free to," Shikamaru said, "Temari? Gaara? Do you two want to come back and help me clean from the party last night?"

"Sure." Temari said.

Gaara looked at the mess in the house and said, "I think I will stay here and help Naruto."

"Thank you." Naruto grinned at Gaara.

"Fine," Shikamaru said as they headed out of the destroyed house, "we will talk to you later."

Groaning, Naruto started to pick up the room, Gaara silently helped. They worked in silence for about ten minutes before Naruto turned the stereo on to some music. It was on one of Iruka's country CD's that nearly caused Naruto to cringe. It was not that he hated country music, he appreciated it where it belonged, with Iruka, not him. Riffling through the cases on the stereo, Naruto found a CD that was Iruka's that he liked, Johnny Cash.

Gaara was amazed at how well Naruto could harmonize with just about any singer, the remainder of the day was filled with Naruto singing with Johnny Cash while cleaning.

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_**A/N:**__ I do not hate country music… I just can't see Naruto liking it too well, I see him as liking a wide range of music in this story, however not the two step. I do see him as appreciating it though, and liking some of the songs. It is called 'Symphonic' after all. Which in this story does not refer to just music._


	11. Chapter 11

_**Disclaimer:**__** I do not own Naruto, I only borrow the characters for my entertainment, and I hope that you too find some small amount of joy from my musings… So please do not sue me, I have nothing, I no longer have my cat even so you can't get anything out of me other than more musings…**_

_**A/N: A very special thanks goes to all those that review, favorite and alert… thank you! A special thanks goes to Joyous emo… for inspiring this chapter! This one is for you!**_

Tic… Tic… Tic… Sitting on the sofa, Naruto waited for Iruka or Baki or someone to come home. Gaara was sitting next to him, neither one spoke, they were each lost in their own thoughts. The sound of the Grandfather clock in the foyer sounding louder than the music had coming from the speakers earlier, each time the clock made the tic sound just reminded Naruto that they were indeed alone in the house.

"We gotta take down the Halloween decorations soon." Naruto commented out of the blue.

Gaara looked at him, "Should we do that today?"

"I don't think we have time…"

"What time is it?"

"Last time I checked it was seven." Naruto leaned against Gaara's shoulder, "I am getting a little hungry though."

"How about pizza? They deliver."

"Sounds good. You can call, whatever you want is fine with me." Naruto had a fear that Gaara would soon have to leave him and Naruto kept having to suppress the urge to curl up like a babe and bawl. He had to come up with a plan, the best one he could think of. It had to be so good that Gaara and the others would be staying here even if Baki left. At the moment though, all he could think of was that he needed them to stay, it was not that easy to admit, in fact it shocked Naruto how much the thought of losing them affected him. When Iruka had said that they were moving here with them, he hadn't cared, so why did he care so much now?

Gaara pulled out his cell phone and dialed Pizza Hut's phone number, he ordered a large pepperoni and black olive pizza along with some wings and bread sticks. Naruto smiled and realized that that was all of his favorites. Gaara knew what he liked, and it touched him that the red head had thought about him.

Snuggling up to Gaara even more, Naruto was content to just hold him, he knew that he would need to resolve the issue of them later, for now though he just wanted this moment to last as long as possible. He was no longer worried about Iruka or the troubles that were going on with him, he just wanted to have Gaara with him.

The Grandfather clock in the foyer tolled out eight p.m. before the pizza got there.

As Naruto went to go pay for it and get it, he said to Gaara, "We will take it upstairs and eat it, so go grab some pop and meet me up there."

Gaara nodded his head and went to go get the pop and headed upstairs. Within a minute, Naruto had joined him and they were sitting on the sofa in front of Naruto's large TV. "What do you want to watch?" Naruto asked as he put the food on the coffee table in front of the sofa, absently pushing the PS, X-Box and WI controllers off onto the floor.

"I don't care…" Gaara said as he dug into the pizza while Naruto started in on the wings.

"Then I get to pick!" Naruto jumped up and headed to the shelf where all his movies were. Absently chewing on the wing as he scanned his dvd's. "Here is a good one that you haven't seen. At least I don't think so. I warn you though, it is interactive." Naruto opened the case and plucked out the gold disk. Once it was inserted into the dvd player, he sat back down next to Gaara and leaned against him while on the remote he pushed the button to go directly to the main menu.

"Rocky Horror Picture Show, huh?" Gaara said as the main menu was displayed. "I heard about this movie. it's a musical right?"

"Yeah." Naruto said, "One of the best ones I think." The song Science Fiction Double Feature came on and almost immediately Naruto sang along.

By the time Tim Curry was singing the Sweet Transvestite song, Gaara was enjoying the movie immensely due to the fact that Naruto was indeed making the movie a interaction by singing and dancing. By the end, Gaara smiled to himself as he noticed that Naruto had tears in his eyes from Rocky carrying Doctor Frank-n-furter in his arms as they died together.

"I love this movie." Naruto said, his voice was a little dreamy. "I wish they would do a midnight showing now, and I would go dressed up as the doctor. Tim Curry is such a good actor."

"He was good in It too." Gaara commented.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"A good movie. You want to watch It? I have it somewhere here." he started to rummage around his movies and pulled out the movie.

"What's it called?"

"It."

"It? That is a weird name."

"Yeah It's a Stephen King movie." the way Gaara said that, made it sound as if that explained everything.

"Oh…" Naruto said as they began watching the movie. "So what part does Tim Curry play?"

"The clown." Gaara smiled at the blond and pointed to the demonic clown.

Naruto leaned against Gaara and watched the movie, jumping up when the clown turned demonic. They had fallen asleep before the movie ended so they didn't hear Iruka come home or notice that Temari and Kankuro returned and chuckled over the fact that they had fallen asleep in each others arms once more.

The following morning, Naruto woke up with a stiff neck, disentangling himself from Gaara, he stretched his muscles before heading into the bathroom. While he was in the shower, he heard Gaara getting up also. With nothing but a towel on, he went back into the room, Gaara was gone, so he hurriedly got dressed and headed downstairs too.

Gaara was fixing some cereal and toast when he entered the kitchen, Temari was rubbing her puffy eyes, while Kankuro was busy texting on his cell phone.

"Don't forget," Temari said, "After school today we go to the old age home."

"I can't." Naruto stated.

"Why not?" Temari wanted to know.

"I have to practice for the winter production of the Nutcracker." Naruto was about to complain about not having his favorite cereal, Trix, when Gaara pulled it out for him. "Thanks Gaara."

"Well if he is getting out of it, so am I." Kankuro stated.

"No your not, you have to go." Temari argued.

"I can't." Kankuro complained, "The cookies that I promised Eustace got burnt so no, I refuse to go."

"God Kankuro, are you a idiot? Just buy some he wont know the difference."

"Like hell he will."

"Morning kids." everyone was quiet when Iruka walked into the room. He seemed tired still, yet he was no longer puffy eyed. Baki was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning Iruka." Naruto smiled at him.

"Naruto, I hope you and Gaara are practicing safe sex." Iruka sternly said to the two youngest boys.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto was more than a little confused.

"Yesterday Kankuro said that you two were sleeping together and last night when I got home I went and checked on you and you were both sleeping on the couch in each others arms."

Naruto turned beet red, "We h-h-have not had sex though."

"Yeah…" Gaara added, he too was more than a little scarlet from embarrassment.

Iruka looked between the two boys over to Temari who was trying not to laugh at the way her little brother was blushing, to where Kankuro was holding his side from the laugh that was coming out of his mouth. "So what is the deal?" He asked.

"They are in denial." Temari smiled at the older man that she had grown to respect.

"Yeah," Naruto added, "What is the deal with you and Baki?"

"I ask the questions here." Iruka said.

"I can ask too. What's good for the gander is good for the goose." Naruto crossed his arms in front of him.

"Uh Naruto," Iruka chuckled, "It goes the other way around… uh- never mind."

"So where is Baki?" Naruto ignored Iruka's comment.

"He moved in with his new 'friend'," Iruka softly said, he didn't want to talk too much about it at this moment, last night it had taken Gai and Kakashi almost all evening to get him to calm down.

"Naruto," Gaara said tactfully, "We gotta go to school. Come on."

Naruto nodded his head, unsure if he should say more or not. He relented and allowed Gaara to lead him out the door, on their way through the house Kankuro said in amazement, "Wow Naruto, I honestly didn't think you knew what a gander was."

"I don't." Naruto mumbled, "My granny says it all the time about people though so it must be true."

Temari softly laughed and told Naruto, "A gander is an adult male goose. And I think the way she said it is what's good for the goose is good for the gander."

"So I just called Iruka a goose?" Naruto laughed as he left the house with the others.

Iruka had heard them and also chuckled, Naruto thought he was so wise, that was how drama queen's usually were though. They would say something and assume it was fine, then they would find out it was wrong and just laugh about it.

Sitting down at the counter, Iruka contemplated the past few nights and what it meant for him. He had assumed that Baki was the one, the one that would be forever. How wrong could he have been?

He could forgive Baki, he would even take the cheating fool back if that was what Baki had wanted, no Baki wanted to go off with this new guy and leave Iruka behind. The new guy though hated kids and only had a studio apartment, in other words no room for kids, so Baki had left the three siblings here with Iruka. That was what bothered Iruka the most, how could someone say that they wanted to be with someone that didn't even like your kids? He knew that Temari, Kankuro and Gaara were not biological children for Baki, hell Naruto was not his biological kid, however he loved him just the same. Baki had said that they were old enough now to be without him, how foolish was the guy? No child should be treated so callously.

Cleaning up the mess that they had made, Iruka contemplated what Kakashi had said to him last night. That no matter what age, a child needs their parent. Baki was their parent just like he was Naruto's, much to his dismay. Well he should be proud of it, he was, it was just that Naruto wore his patience thin. I guess that was what being a parent meant though, Iruka mused to himself.

Once the kitchen was clean, Iruka went back downstairs and nearly stumbled into Kakashi, he had forgotten that the man had stayed the night, sleeping on the sofa down in the family room.

"I'm sorry." he told his childhood friend, "I made some coffee, if you want some." Iruka stepped aside, "Let me shower real quick then we can go grab a bite to eat, unless you want cereal that Naruto just may kill you over."

Kakashi laughed softly, "He is just like you."

"Hell no," Iruka said, "He is just like his mom."

Kakashi laughed, "You were a drama queen just like Naruto."

"No I was not!" Iruka denied, "My sister was, not me."

"You were just like your sister." Kakashi smiled at his friend. "That's what I loved about you." with that, Kakashi left a stunned Iruka at the bottom of the basement stairs.

With those words echoing in his head, Iruka went into the bathroom and turned on the water in the shower, wondering where that statement had come from. How could Kakashi know that even when they were in school that it was he that Iruka had liked? That the only reason he hadn't been forward about how he had felt was that he was unsure of how the pale headed Kakashi felt.

Hope sprang to life in his heart, Iruka didn't want to think of it, but maybe, just maybe he could get closer to Kakashi. He did not want to rush into anything though, and so he had to calm his beating heart.

With a new lightness in his step though, Iruka showered and got dressed. Even if the future only showed that they would remain only friends, he knew it would be okay as long as he always had Kakashi with him in some way.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Disclaimer:**__ I still don't own anything… so please forgive me if you do!_

_**A/N:**__ Bows down in shame… nothing, and I mean nothing can explain my emotions when I found out that Japan got hit by that earthquake, my first thought was for all the manga artists that live there and then for all the wonderful people that call Japan home, I donated a measly two hundred dollars to the relief efforts and I still feel that that is not enough, that is why I bow down in shame to you all. Plus I beg of you to forgive my lateness in this update, much thanks to the reviews, it warms my heart. (Wait… do I have a heart? Or am I like the cowardly lion?)_

* * *

Naruto stayed after the practice for the play, due to Jiraiya requesting he stay. He wondered what he had done to displease the older Broadway actor. Sitting on the edge of the stage, he waited for Jiraiya to return from letting the other students out of the theatre.

Once Jiraiya returned, he looked up at him and waited impatiently, wanting the older man to hurry up and get to the point.

"Naruto," he started, "I think you have great potential."

Naruto nodded his head and silently urged the man to continue.

"I talked with your Grandmother, she has agreed, this summer you are to accompany me to New York city."

"What!" Naruto jumped up from the stage, landing effortlessly in front of the long haired man. "What do you mean?"

"I am going to New York for a few weeks this summer and Tsunade has agreed that you may accompany me. We will be going to quite a bit of the shows on Broadway, I want you to get a feel of how things are there. To be able to say that you have been to a Broadway production is better than being able to say you have been to Disneyland."

"Hey!" Naruto was slightly ruffled, "I have been to Disneyland and I liked it. Well when I was a kid…" The last sentence was uttered almost as an afterthought.

"Naruto," Jiraiya continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "I think you have talent in the arts, acting, drama and dancing, all of which you could hone and become famous on Broadway."

"I would like to go to Juilliard." Naruto conceded.

"I know, it is in New York. I was planning on taking you on a tour there, I still have a few connections left in New York." the twinkle in Jiraiya's eye made Naruto realize that the man had more than a few most likely.

Naruto nodded his head, inside he was getting excited, he had started thinking that he would have to be sly about his desire to go to Juilliard, that his granny would never permit him to move on the other side of the country to go to college, now though he was fully able to share his dreams and goals with her maybe. "I'll go."

"That was quick."

"I know what I want, and why wait?"

"So what do you want?"

"I want to go to Juilliard." the statement seemed to echo in the theatre, as if it was a vow.

Jiraiya softly chuckled, he had gotten Tsunade to agree only because she had thought that once Naruto went to New York and experienced first hand the harsh reality of Broadway, that Naruto would then decide on staying firmly close to her. If Naruto was anything like his dramatic mother, than Naruto would not give up easily on his dream. He was in fact looking forward to showing Naruto all that New York had to offer.

"Well first things first, you gotta get a part time job, if you want to go. I am not going to pay for all your expenses. We will be staying at a friends house so no need to worry about that, however all the souvenirs you are bound to want will have to be paid by you, not me."

"This friend of yours, who is it? Is it someone famous? Do I know them?"

"His name is Nagato, he is famous on Broadway and you wouldn't know him unless you went to one of his shows, he is one of the best Broadway actors out there."

"Better than you?"

Jiraiya laughed, not a quiet laugh, it was full of pent up emotion, "Not likely, they still talk about me on Broadway, I was a legend."

"So why did you leave?"

"A woman I had loved my entire life, asked me to teach her good for nothing Grandson."

"Granny…" Naruto laughed as well. "So I am good for nothing…"

"Don't worry kid, I pulled out the potential in you." they were walking towards the exit and Naruto realized that Jiraiya had said that he had loved Tsunade.

"So do you still love her?"

"What do you think?"

"Yeah." Naruto nodded his head, "Or else you would have left a long time ago, with the way she treats you I always wondered why you never left. Only foolish men fall so hard in love."

"One day Naruto, you too will fall in love, and if you are anything like your grandmother, it will be the love of a lifetime. No matter what, she still loves Dan, he has been dead all these years and she just waits to be reunited with him."

"Yeah" Naruto added, "You are here, she should go with you."

"I wouldn't have it that way, see, she is loyal. That was how your dad was and I think that you will be the same way. Some people can fall in and out of love at the drop of a hat, others love so deeply that no one else will do."

"And you still love her?"

"Yeah," the older man admitted, "I am the kind that fall in and out of love fast, I have loved many in my day and been loved by many, Tsunade though has only loved one. To me that is more beautiful than a thousand loves in a lifetime. Who was it that said; 'It's better to have loved and lost, then to have never loved'?"

"Tennyson's poem _In Memoriam_, I think." Naruto said to himself.

"See," Jiraiya said as he held the door open that led to the parking lot that was now deserted. "You are a literary genius. One day Naruto you will be more famous than even me."

Nervously, Naruto laughed, "I just remember odd things." Naruto was slightly embarrassed by what the older man had said. He had never thought of himself as being exceptionally smart. He did admit that if something was interesting, then he did have a habit of keeping it in his memory longer.

"Do you need a ride home?" Jiraiya asked as they walked through the dark deserted parking lot.

"Nah," Naruto headed off toward the street that led to his house. "I can manage."

"See you tomorrow then." the older man nodded at him and waved.

The street was well lit, and he was contemplating his trip to New York when he saw Sasuke up ahead. He was with Suigetsu, and they were in the parked car next to Itachi's house. Years ago, he had been best friends with Sasuke, then things changed, he became best friends with Shikamaru and Sasuke drifted off. That was when Sasuke's parents had died and Itachi came back home with all his friends from L.A. Sasuke had met Suigetsu through them, Suigetsu was cousin to Itachi's best friend Kisame.

"What's up dobe?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"Hi!" Naruto said, "Nothin much, just thinking about the job I gotta get."

"Why do you have to get a job?" Suigetsu asked from the drivers seat.

"I am going to New York for the summer and I do not want to go with no money."

"So how long will you be gone?" Sasuke asked.

"I think all summer."

"You can go to work with us." Suigetsu said.

"Yeah," Sasuke added, "The pizza joint we work for is hiring right now."

"He could work up front."

"The boss would love him." Sasuke snidely said.

"Yeah, he just might become the next store manager." Suigetsu laughed.

"What's so funny?" Naruto hated others laughing and not telling him what was funny.

Sasuke looked at Naruto and said, "Our boss likes pretty boy's if you know what I mean. He makes them managers and puts them in charge even if they are idiotic."

"Not saying that you are a idiot," Suigetsu said through laughter, "just that you are a pretty boy."

"I am not pretty." Naruto grumbled.

"No you are not pretty, you are gorgeous…" Suigetsu tried to sound serious.

Not sure if he should be offended or take that as a compliment, Naruto started to walk away when Sasuke grabbed him and added, "We are serious about working with us. Lets take you to get a job application and interview with the boss."

"I don't think I should be working at a place like that…" Naruto hedged. He really didn't want to work where the boss liked 'pretty' boys.

"Come on," Suigetsu added, "we will be with you while you work."

Sasuke pushed Naruto into the backseat then got in as well, "We will take you home after okay?"

"Why do you want me to work there so bad?" Naruto grumbled, he didn't like being forced to do something he didn't want.

"It will make the job so much better." Suigetsu said.

"What happened to your other job Sasuke?"

"I still have it, I work there on the weekends. I work here through the week."

They were pulling up to the Pizza Shack, it was only three blocks away from where they had been.

Soon Naruto found himself hired and was told to start the following day with Sasuke and Suigetsu. It surprised Naruto, and he was pleased when he saw that Ino was working there as well as Choji.

On the way to Naruto's house, the two were silent and left Naruto alone to his thoughts, his life was changing, it was changing fast, things were starting to happen that he had no control over, and the things he could control were also changing. It confused him that he would be attracted to Gaara, it irritated him that Iruka's life was falling apart, and it saddened him to think how close he used to be to Sasuke and now they were worlds apart. Had he changed so drastically in the past two or three years that he felt like he was going to scream if more happened to him? How should he handle all of it? He knew that he couldn't just let it go and say oh well… He had to do something, anything, what could he do though? Gaara would be on hold for now, even though he was getting more and more attached to the red head, he had to set his priorities. First would be to help Iruka get over Baki, then he had to somehow mend the gap between Sasuke and him, after that he could deal with his growing fondness of Gaara.

The car pulled up to the house, every light was on, and Naruto had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that they had been worried over him, maybe thinking that someone had kidnapped him.

"See ya tomorrow." Sasuke said as Naruto climbed out of the car.

Naruto grinned at them and waved, nothing could dampen his spirits, he would explain to Iruka about everything. He knew that Iruka would be happy for him because for a long time he had been saying that Naruto needed to get a job. Now he had one.

Opening the front door, Naruto was shocked to see the living room was empty. "Iruka?" he called out, "Gaara, Temari… Kankuro?" going into the kitchen revealed Kankuro. "Where is everyone?" he asked.

"Hi Naruto," Kankuro grinned at him. "Temari and Gaara are at the old age home still. Iruka and Baki are downstairs talking with Gai, Asuma and Kakashi. Baki brought his new boyfriend here too."

"What's he like?" Naruto was curious, he couldn't help it. He wanted to know who Baki had chosen over Iruka, he knew it was morbid, however he wanted to know.

"Nothing unique," Kankuro laughed. "Can you believe that Baki is a idiot for doing this? I will say this for Baki though, I really thought that Iruka would change him, he still seems to care about Iruka, its just that Baki is a guy that seems to want it all."

"What do you mean?" Naruto sat down on the counter and started to eat some uncooked ramen.

Kankuro cringed at Naruto's choice of snack and explained, "I think he still loves Iruka, he will realize it soon and by that time Iruka will be with someone else that deserves him. How the hell can you eat uncooked ramen?"

"Easy." Naruto laughed, "sometimes it tastes better than cooked."

"So where have you been?" Kankuro handed a coke to Naruto and took a long drink from one himself.

"I got a job. Working with Sasuke and Suigetsu at the Pizza Shack."

Kankuro nodded his head, "When do you start?"

"After school tomorrow. I had to get the job so I can save money to go to New York this summer." Naruto jumped down from the counter, "Oh yeah, I need to call Granny."

"What are you going to do in New York?" Kankuro was interested now.

Naruto grinned, "I am going to tour Broadway, and Jiraiya has connections that will let us stay with them. I also want to check into Julliard and find out what it is that I need to do to go to school there."

"So you want to be a Broadway actor huh?" Kankuro was thoughtful for a moment then he nodded his head. "I can see you doing that."

Naruto pulled out his cell phone and turned it on, there were several missed calls and six new voice mails. Calling his voice mail he listened to Iruka tell him that he needed to come home soon, then another one saying that he didn't need to come home soon, then finally a third saying that Iruka wanted to talk with him, confusion filtered through Naruto's mind and he drummed his forefinger on the counter, his eyebrows rose slightly and he heaved a sigh when he realized that Iruka had lost it. That had to be the reason, nothing else could explain it, Iruka had lost it when Baki had left, then decided to make Naruto's life miserable just because he could. Technically, Naruto hated to admit, it didn't make him miserable, it just confused him.

He was about to comment on it when the phone rang, "Hello?" he said into the receiver.

"Naruto? It's Lee, I need to talk to Gai, its an emergency!" Lee's voice held panic in the tone.

"What is it?" Naruto asked as he headed down the stairs to the basement, "What happened?"

"Its Neji…" Lee whispered.

"What about him?" Naruto could feel the panic start to well up within his chest.

"He took off his name tag."

Naruto laughed in relief, banishing the images of Neji getting hurt by falling boxes or whatever else Gai had in that place. "Is that all?"

"What do you mean, is that all? It is a dire emergency, what if someone walks in and doesn't know that Neji has the power of youth?"

In the basement the talking that had been going on prior to his arrival ceased when Naruto entered, five familiar pairs of eyes gazed at him, and one unfamiliar pair of eyes, that must be the 'new' guy in Baki's life, Naruto surmised.

"Phone is for you Gai." Naruto said holding out the phone towards Gai. "By the way, Iruka, this summer I am going to New York with Jiraiya. I got a job so that I can have some spending money already."

Once Gai took the phone, Naruto went back upstairs, leaving mass confusion in his absence.


	13. Chapter 13

**_Disclaimer: Generic disclaimer here, Don't own, so don't sue..._**

**_A/N:_**_I was thinking of posting this in a few days, however I decided to post it now. I hope you all enjoy the strange ride that Naruto and Gaara are on and realize that the plot is just now starting to form, so I guess you could say that this is just begining for them, I have not forgotten some of the key things going on in the story, they are just on hold till it comes out. Review please! It is the only food for my muse that seems to be pestering me about this story right now, so yes, updates are going to be more frequent! :)_

Alone in his room, Naruto fell down on his bed to sort out his feelings. Ever since Iruka had let Baki and the three siblings move in, Naruto's life had been in chaos, he had never thought about his sexuality or anything other than music, and acting before. Now though his thoughts were constantly being led to Gaara, what would Gaara do, what would Gaara like, what did Gaara want with life? It was driving Naruto crazy, sure he admitted, he was a tiny bit crazy before, now though he seemed to be full blown insane.

It wasn't five minutes later that Iruka was coming into his room, quietly closing the door that led to his office.

"Can we talk?" Iruka sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Sure." Naruto sat up, leaning on his elbows. "What do you want to talk about?"

"This thing about New York, the thing between you and Gaara, and how you feel about Baki."

"New York is next summer, it is barely November now, so that is something too far in the future for more than being a little excited about. You know I want to go to Julliard. I have wanted that for the past three years, since I heard about it."

"Your grandma wont be happy if you decide to move to New York. You know she wants you to take over the company."

"What about what I want though? Has it ever entered anyone's mind about what it is I want?" Naruto sighed in exasperation. "As for Gaara, I don't know. I honestly don't know. I like him Iruka, I like him a lot, and it scares me. I don't want to rush into anything, if I do then I might regret it later."

Iruka looked sadly at Naruto before replying, "I was young once, I liked this boy, he was a friend of mine since I was little, and I think that he felt the same way, however I didn't want to 'ruin' our friendship, and ended up with a guy that nearly killed me, then after being single for years to raise you, I met Baki and thought he was the 'one,' only to end up getting hurt in the process."

"Who was it?" Naruto was curious now.

"That is not important, what is, is that you may never get the chance again, you don't know what tomorrow holds."

"So you think I should have sex with Gaara even if I regret it later?"

Iruka looked horrified, "God, no. I think that you should be honest with how you feel with him though."

Naruto looked at a point on the wall, not too sure what Iruka was trying in his awkward way, of saying.

"Do you understand, Naruto?" Iruka was scrutinizing the blond in front of him. Naruto looked slightly confused and it had Iruka concerned that he had said it wrong.

"A little…" Naruto finally said after a long pause.

"What don't you understand?"

"Who is it that you liked?"

Iruka chuckled and shook his head, leave it to Naruto to change the subject like that. "None of your business."

"It is my business. I think you should go for him, as long as it isn't Gai." Naruto laughed, "That would just be … wrong."

Iruka shook the disturbing image out of his head, "I couldn't agree more." Iruka smiled, despite the haunting image of trying to kiss Gai floating in his head still. "So how do you feel about Baki?"

"As long as you are happy, I am happy." Naruto honestly told him, "I just don't want to see you get hurt. When you first let him move in, I thought it was all too fast."

"You are so right, I was tired of being alone though Naruto and I fell hard real fast for him."

"How do you know when you should be forward and let your heart … Uh… never mind…" Naruto mumbled.

Iruka chuckled and patted Naruto on the shoulder before saying, "You just know okay? Is this about a certain red head?"

Naruto blushed and looked away.

"Don't worry, I think he feels the same way you do." Iruka placated the blond.

"Can we talk about something else?" Naruto mumbled.

"Sure, so where are you working? And how much are you being paid?"

Naruto smiled, glad for the change of subject, "The Pizza Shack. I start tomorrow after school. As for pay… hmm… maybe I should have asked?"

"You didn't find out?" Iruka laughed, "What am I going to do with you Naruto?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and said, "Love me… you know you do. I grow on people."

"That you do."

"I am excited anyway," after a brief moment, Naruto added as an afterthought, "Maybe I have to pay them to work there. It is THE coolest job in the area after all."

Iruka chuckled as he got up, "I am going to go fix dinner, you best call your grandmother with all the details."

Naruto nodded absentmindedly, first he had to tell Gaara, "When is Gaara and Temari suppose to get back?"

"They got back before I came up here," Iruka said as he headed towards the door that led to the stairs to his office on the second floor.

Naruto went the quicker way, he took the original trap ladder and went down, directly into the second floor hallway. Sure enough, as he ran down the stairs to the first floor, he noticed Gaara sitting on the sofa watching TV.

"Gaara, Gaara," Naruto called as he approached the red head, "I got the best news!"

Gaara looked up at the blond and gave him one of his rare smiles, "What is it Naruto?"

"I Am Going to New York City!" Naruto said as he sat down nearly on top of his room mate.

"What!" Gaara scooted only a little, "When?"

"This summer. I am going to tour New York with Jiraiya, he is taking me to Broadway then we are going to visit Julliard. Isn't this wonderful?"

Gaara noticed how excited the blond was and smiled despite the lump forming in his throat. "Great!"

"I also got a job, I start tomorrow at the pizza shack." Naruto went on for over five minutes about how cool the pizza shack was. "Wait, Gaara, you need to work there too. That would be awesome, then we could all hang out while we work. The manager likes guys Sasuke said. You could get hired just like that."

Gaara looked at Naruto and felt a little intimidated by all that Naruto was saying. "Uh, Naruto, how are you going to practice for drama, work and still have time for your band and school?" Gaara wanted to add me too, yet he didn't want to push himself on the other.

A stricken look filtered briefly on Naruto's face before being replaced by resolution. "I will make the time."

Gaara shrugged his shoulders and left it at that.

Kankuro poked his head in to the living room just then and announced dinner time.

Throughout the meal, Naruto gave more details about the summer trip that was planned as well as his new job. What Gaara had said though made him a little bit nervous. How would he do all the things that he needed to do? And no way did he want to neglect his time with Gaara, that was his time that he was able to enjoy the most. And who would have thought that he would get so attached to someone else? When Iruka had first moved them in, the idea had made him mad, now though he couldn't imagine life without the red head in it. He pushed it back in his mind as he ate though, to ponder it later.

After dinner, Naruto started to clean the kitchen (his punishment for nearly burning down Iruka's prize kitchen), he was pleased when Gaara helped him without being asked.

The two worked in silence, each one lost in his own thoughts.

Gaara was near tears by the time the last dish was out in the dishwasher, and Naruto was nearly just as bad.

"Gaara…" Naruto said as he held the dishrag to wipe the counter. "… I … uh, I want to see if you mind that I am going to New York… uh, cause if you don't want me to…"

Gaara looked over at Naruto, he could tell that Naruto was torn, the blond did want to go to New York, and Gaara would not hold him back. As much as Gaara wanted to say no, the red head softly smiled at the blond and nodded his head, "You have to go, if you don't go then you will regret it your entire life. Don't let anyone stand in the way of your dreams."

They stared intently at one another and slowly leaned in towards each other, Naruto knew he was about to kiss Gaara when Iruka walked in, interrupting the moment. Both boys backed away from one another and pretended to be busy cleaning.

"We are going to watch some TV," Iruka opened the fridge and pulled out two beers, "Would you two want to join us?"

"I have a test to study for." Naruto easily lied.

"Me too." Gaara said, Naruto didn't know if Gaara was telling the truth or lying also, so he kept quiet.

"Well I hope you two pass your tests then." Iruka said as he walked out the door.

Naruto slunk against the counter and heaved a sigh of relief, he didn't want to be around Iruka right now, he had some major thinking to do. "Do you really have a test to study for?" Naruto asked Gaara as they headed up the stairs to the second floor.

Gaara shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, in algebra."

Naruto started to climb up the ladder stairs and said over his shoulder to Gaara with a grin plastered on his face, "I guess that means you can't play any video games then huh?"

Gaara shrugged his thin shoulders and said, "I take it you were lying then."

"Yeah," Naruto laughed, "I didn't want to be bored watching one of those Lifetime movies or worse yet Hallmark channel ones with Iruka. I had enough of that when I was younger."

Gaara made a face and shivered, "I pity Kankuro and Temari then."

"Don't forget Kakashi." Naruto said as he jumped on his sofa, turning the TV and Play station on as he sat down.

"So what game are you gonna play?" Gaara grabbed his Algebra book and sat down next to Naruto.

"Resident Evil." Naruto leaned forward, giving Gaara a nice view of his backside as he did, rummaging in the box of video games, Naruto found the game he wanted to play and sat back up. "Are you sure you don't wanna play too? We could play that one game you like."

"Nah, I'll just watch you while I study." Gaara said while blushing slightly at nearly being caught staring at Naruto's backside.

Naruto nodded his head, within moments he was lost to the game, nearly forgetting that he was slightly concerned how he would keep Gaara with him and still work, study and go to school. Not to mention how he would throw in the Rejects practice that they did every weekend. Well the practice was easy enough, Gaara would just have to go to them also, as for work, he had to figure out a way to have Gaara work there too. Not just that, Gaara had to have the same schedule as he did.

When his player got killed, Naruto sighed and stood up, "I'm going to go take a bath now."

Gaara nodded his head and went back to study for his test.

Naruto was able to relax in the tub while Sai soothed his soul with small talk and getting Naruto to think about New York. Out of the tub, Naruto realized that Gaara had gone to bed without saying good night, that was unusual, lately Gaara would at least say good night. Putting it down to being tired after studying for the test, Naruto also went to bed without having his usual ramen snack.

* * *

Naruto was at the front counter of the Pizza Shack the next day, he was to answer the phone and take people to their seats. Near five the phone rang and he answered it the way the manager had told him to.

"Pizza Shack, home of the five dollar extravaganza, what can I get for you today?" he said into the phone.

"Yeah," a sickly sweet voice said in the receiver, "I would like a small sausage pizza with extra sauce, kay?"

"Delivery or carry out?"

"Delivery, of course." the sickly sweet voice sounded slightly affronted.

After getting the phone number and address, Naruto hung up and handed the slip of paper to Choji who was the prep.

Choji laughed and said, "It's Sasuke's stalker friend."

"I wanna see." Suigetsu came over and looked at the order, the veins on his neck seemed to stick out as he read the order.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, slightly intrigued.

"You know that stalker guy that showed up while we were all at planned parenthood?" Suigetsu was saying, "It's him."

"Oh!" Naruto said.

"You all went to planned parenthood together?" Choji asked, he seemed to be trying to stifle his laughter.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "Temari had to get on the pill."

"They were already there when Sasuke and I showed up." Suigetsu was saying.

"If you go though Choji, don't take Kankuro, he took all the free condoms." Naruto pouted playfully.

This time Choji did laugh, "You took Kankuro to planned parenthood?"

"Naruto Uzamaki!" a voice nearly yelled from the front door.

Slowly turning around, Naruto noticed his Grandma and Shizune standing just inside the door looking straight at him. "G- Grandma." Naruto only used that word when he knew that she was displeased with him about something. "W-what are y-you doing here?"

"Don't stutter boy," she approached the counter, "I am here to get you before you make a big mistake and end up working for Pizza Shack for the rest of your life."

"Lady Tsunade…" Shizune tried to calm the irate lady, "you know what the doctor said about your stress level."

"I could care less what that quack said, my grandson is ruining his life." she brushed Shizune's hand off her arm as she went towards Naruto who was slowly backing up till he hit the wall. "Leave us." she said to the other workers that were standing around Naruto.

Gulping, Naruto dejectedly watched as Suigetsu and Choji seemed to vanish. "What can I do for you today Grandma"

"You can get your ass home where you belong." she pulled him towards her. "I do not want you working here the rest of your life."

"But Granny I need the money for my trip to New York."

"Like hell you do." she was slowly dragging him out towards the door. "I have money you can have. What the hell got into you thinking you needed a job?"

"Jiraiya said that he would not pay for my needs while in New York, so I needed to get a job."

"That damn idiot, he was suppose to tell you that I would pay for you." she grumbled.

Naruto grinned, "You mean I don't have to work here?" he realized that he would have the time now to do all the things that he had worried about earlier. "I can go back to drama lessons and practicing with my band?" Over his shoulder he saw all the workers watching and asked the manager that was in the front, "When can I get my pay?"

"Are you quitting?" the manager seemed upset.

"I guess I have to." Naruto shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

Once they had left the restaurant, Naruto started to walk home when his Grandma stopped him, "Where do you think you are going?" she asked as she pulled him towards her old Buick.

Motioning towards his street with his thumb, he said, "Going home."

"I will take you," she opened the car door for him to get into the back seat while Shizune got into the drivers seat. "In you go."

Naruto hated riding with his Granny, she made Shizune drive like ten miles an hour, even when the speed limit was seventy five. He also felt like a little kid when ever she made him ride with her, or like he was in a taxi. Grumbling only slightly, Naruto complied. He knew that she would not take no for an answer.

The short drive to Naruto's was silent, and seemed to take longer than it would have had Naruto walked, it didn't help that Shizune drove at a snails pace and even then his Granny would tell her to slow down. He gave kudos to Shizune for putting up with her, he knew that if it was him in her place, he would tell her where to stick it. When ever a car speed by the passengers all looked over at the slow Buick and Naruto would hide his head in shame. He hoped that no one he knew would drive by.

Once the car came to a stop next to the front door of his house, Naruto had never been so happy, he quickly got out and was about to walk away when his Grandma called him back, "Naruto," she said as he was about to open the door and escape inside the sanctum of his home.

Turning around, Naruto smiled before saying, "What is it Granny?"

"You are welcome." was all she said, before turning to Shizune and saying, "Now lets go home."


	14. Chapter 14

_**Generic disclaimer:**__** Don't own, don't sue…** (A/N is at the end of the chapter... TY)_

For two weeks, Naruto practiced with the Rejects for the upcoming concert that they would perform for a party at one of Gai's warehouses that was to be Thanksgiving themed, it would be for all the Rejects families and friends, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Naruto even made up a song that Shikamaru wrote some music for. It would be a song that no one would soon forget, it was titled 'How I love thee Turkey, so Why do I have to kill thee?'

Gaara would watch them practice while he would draw little sketches of the band in various forms, in a notebook. Naruto was always so amazed at how detailed the quiet boy could draw. Sai was good at art, however Gaara seemed to have a natural ability to animate the most mundane things in life and do it with such a flare that Naruto was intrigued with it.

Choji told them how Suigetsu had laughed about the way Naruto's granny had dragged Naruto out of the Pizza Shack, and Suigetsu immortalized Naruto with telling everyone that they would never compare to the greatness that had been Naruto, to which Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Somehow Kakashi had partially moved in with them, he slept in the basement in the family room, yet he and Iruka were spending more and more time together.

For the concert itself, Naruto made them all dress up as pilgrims and Indians, Shikamaru and Naruto were Indians, while Kiba, Choji and Kankuro were pilgrims. Naruto had gotten black hair spray at a novelty store and put it in his hair, added a few feathers in it, then he had wore a loincloth that he had made. In all he looked slightly like a Indian, a rejected Indian, and that was just how he wanted it. Sai put the finishing touches on him with war paint.

After the thirty minute concert, everyone sat down and enjoyed a full Thanksgiving dinner, courtesy of Gai, Iruka, Kakashi and Asuma. The four good friends from childhood.

"I think Iruka and Kakashi are going to be hooking up." Kankuro said across from Naruto.

Naruto looked over at Iruka and contemplated what it was that Iruka had told him earlier and absently nodded his head, a grin spreading over his face. "I wouldn't mind."

"So how is it with you and Shino?" Temari asked her brother, "What is it with you and him?"

"Ah Shino…" Kankuro smiled to himself, "He is mon amour. Not THE one that will rule my corazón…"

"Stop speaking Greek." Naruto complained while laughing.

"You wound me Naruto," Kankuro mocked, "It is French and Spanish I speak. And for the one that I fall in love with, I will learn Italian, the language of love."

Gaara rolled his eyes and said, "I honestly don't think that you will ever fill that position."

"Bravo Gaara." Temari laughed while Kankuro looked slightly affronted.

"With siblings like this," Shikamaru commented dryly, "Who needs enemies?"

"Would you two put some clothes on please?" Kankuro tried to change the subject.

"We are dressed." Naruto stood up, "Don't you think so Shikamaru?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru fingered the leather fringe hanging from his pants. "I think I will dress this way at school. I like the fringe."

"Me too." Naruto grinned.

Temari laughed, "Just don't let anyone flip your loincloth then Naruto."

Naruto blushed slightly and sat back down as Kankuro went to do just that, nearly revealing the barely there underpants. "Don't touch it…" Naruto said, "It might break."

"Is that a challenge?" Kankuro laughed, he got up and started to head around the table ready to pounce on the blond that had black shoe polish in his hair.

"Kankuro!" Gaara said sternly.

"Yeah," Naruto scooted closer to the red head, "Protect me Gaara!"

Kankuro harrumphed, "You wimp, you need my baby brother to protect you from little ol' me?"

Naruto shivered, "The look in your eyes say it all."

"Now, now children." Kiba spoke up from a few seats away, "Lets play nice shall we?"

"Yes," Naruto agreed, "Otherwise I will just have to throw Tom at you."

Kankuro shrugged his shoulders and said, "Who the hell is Tom?"

Naruto picked up a piece of turkey and threw it at the obnoxious Kankuro. "That was Tom."

"You named that piece of turkey?" Temari asked while laughing.

"It doesn't surprise me." Shikamaru commented dryly.

"Are you happy now Kankuro?" Naruto asked, "You made me throw Tom at you and now he is all dirty on the floor and wont be able to join his friends the spuds and dresses in my stomach."

"Can't forget the corn." Shikamaru added.

"Do we really need to go down the entire list of things that we just ate?" Temari asked, she was more than a little agitated by the way her time with Shikamaru was always this way whenever Naruto was around. If it had been anyone other than Naruto, she would have blown a fuse long ago.

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and said, "Nah, we can talk about what comes out when you eat too much…"

Naruto looked puzzled slightly then laughed with Kiba and Kankuro, while Gaara groaned and tried to look away. "Shit!" Naruto said.

"Naruto!" Temari said, "Keep quiet."

Shikamaru leaned over to Temari, winking at Naruto as he did so, "Lets get out of here." he said, "Naruto needs to clean up this mess anyway…" He pulled her up and led her out the door.

"Oi, Shikamaru," Naruto called after his best friend, "You forgot your dessert."

Shikamaru only waved at Naruto without turning around, effortlessly guiding a smiling Temari out the door.

* * *

On the evening of Wednesday, Baki came by to get Gaara, Temari and Kankuro for Thanksgiving. Naruto smiled as they left, knowing full well that his Thanksgiving would be like a thousand times better than theirs. Iruka and he had gotten into the storage shed and dragged out all the Christmas decorations. Resulting in a empty storage shed, that Iruka promptly told Naruto to clean, even with having to clean the storage shed, Naruto knew his time was more entertaining than Gaara's.

Bright and early Thanksgiving morning, Naruto woke up without the alarm, one of only two days a year that happens for him. He flew through his morning shower and only ate a piece of toast with the smell of a honey glazed ham in the oven.

"I still don't understand why you two are so damn excited," Kakashi said as he sipped a cup of coffee.

"We like to have all the decorations up before it gets dark on Thanksgiving." Iruka grinned at Naruto. Both wearing the same anticipation expressions that the other one had.

"Yeah." Gai stepped into the room followed by Lee, "That is why we are here to help, right Lee?"

"When did you two get here?" Naruto was looking at them a little shocked.

"Just now." Gai tossed the spare house key at Iruka. "We let ourselves in. Asuma said that he would be here within a hour, Kurenai is making some sort of salad and a dessert for dinner." Gai himself put an array of vegetables into the fridge along with some beer, and a fresh fruit platter.

"He thinks the fresh fruit while he drinks is healthy." Lee said to Naruto.

Naruto laughed and pulled the older boy with him out the door, "They can do their own thing, lets go get the driveway done."

Naruto and Lee placed all the decorations in the driveway, along with the lights in the bushes that lined the gravel drive. Across the street, they waved to Shikamaru and his dad as they were out placing all the deer around their own house. Halfway through the lighting of the bushes, Naruto noticed that the others had finished the lights on the house, and were working on the giant life size snow globe that Iruka had made a few years earlier. Kurenai got there soon after, waving at Naruto and Lee as she drove past them.

She headed into the house to finish the Thanksgiving dinner, her swollen belly protruded out only slightly.

"So what is it with you and Gaara?" Lee asked after a momentary pause in the stringing of lights.

"What do you mean?" Naruto feigned ignorance.

"You know what I mean. During the summer I thought that you and Neji would hook up, he kinda liked you I think. Then he hooked up with Sai and I realized that you were interested in Gaara."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean?" Naruto felt slightly uncomfortable.

"Well don't you like Gaara?"

"As a friend…" Naruto slowly said, unsure why he felt as if his heart were breaking in two. "Come on lets get back to work, I wanna finish this before its time to eat. We still have all the yard to light up."

Naruto got busy once more, promptly ignoring Lee and those irritating questions that the other boy came up with, not taking the hint, Lee kept asking personal questions like what he thought of Gaara, when would he approach the red head, it nearly made Naruto want to scream at Lee to just mind his own business. Naruto hated to be rude to Lee, however he nearly was when Iruka called them all in for dinner.

He tried desperately to ignore Lee the rest of the day, though by the time dinner was over, they all went back to decorating the lawn, Lee had forgotten all about earlier and laughed and joked with Gai and Naruto both. Putting Naruto more at ease.

The sun was starting to sink over the horizon when all the lights and decorations were placed, the fake trees lined the front yard and behind that was the gingerbread village leading to the elf village then to the workshop for Santa. On the roof was the nine reindeer pulling a life size sleigh with Santa inside waving robotically out on the yard.

Iruka made sure everyone was ready, and theatrically as the sun went down, and the light dusk turned to twilight, he plugged it in.

Naruto had to blink a couple of times for his eyes to adjust to the lights, starting with the Happy Holliday sign that streamed through the yard to all the lights lining the driveway and even the ones highlighting the two villages and Santa's workshop, to the ones on the house. Once again, Iruka had outdone himself.

"Well done," Gai smiled so bright that it competed with the lights.

"I couldn't have done it without all you guys." Iruka patted Naruto on the shoulder as he spoke.

"Yeah you could have." Asuma said as he guided Kurenai into the house where it was not so windy, "then again, if it had just been you two, the fire department would most likely need to be on stand by."

"Are you saying that Naruto and I couldn't have done it?" Iruka mockingly asked as if he were wounded.

"You could have done it," Gai said.

"But then the fire department would need to come and help get you guys out of danger every ten minutes." Asuma laughed as he said it.

Naruto watched them all head into the house, he headed to the side yard and gazed at the lights. This was his favorite part about the holidays, seeing all the lights and houses decorated. That and the yummy food for the season.

Sitting down on the grass, he allowed his mind to drift off to Gaara, he wondered how the red head had spent his Thanksgiving day. He was beginning to miss him when it dawned on Naruto that he wanted more, he wanted to spend all the time possible with Gaara, was he just being selfish? Why was Gaara so important to him? Deep in thought about Gaara, Naruto didn't realize that headlights were coming up the drive till they were nearly blinding him in the brightness.

Squinting his eyes, Naruto watched as the car stopped and out came Kankuro followed by Temari who was talking on her cell phone, then Gaara. Gaara's eyes met Naruto and slowly he approached. For some reason butterflies were swarming his stomach, Naruto knew, he couldn't wait another moment. He had to let Gaara know just how he felt. He had to see if Gaara felt the same way, or if Naruto was just maybe imagining it.

Gaara sat down next to Naruto and said, "Its beautiful."

"So are you." Naruto said before he realized it. Realization at what he had said to Gaara caused Naruto to blush slightly, thankfully the red head didn't notice the blush on Naruto due to his own blush.

"I don't think I would be considered beautiful." Gaara softly said.

"How can you say that?" Naruto turned so that he was facing Gaara, he put one hand on Gaara's chin and raised it so that the two were staring into one another's eyes. "I think you are."

For a slight moment, Naruto could see the confusion in Gaara's eyes, then a softness took its place and Naruto knew that he was going to kiss Gaara. He knew it as soon as Gaara looked at him with that melt in your mouth look, the one that made Naruto just want to hold onto Gaara and never let go. Ever so slowly, Naruto leaned in and was just a hairs breath away from his goal, all his senses were heightened, it might just have been his imagination, however he felt that he could taste the red head before his lips even touched Gaara's.

When Gaara licked his lips in anticipation, Naruto nearly groaned with a desire so strong that when their lips did touch, Naruto moaned and pulled Gaara in close to him.

Naruto had never felt this intense desire to pause time before like he did now, he wanted this moment to last. Gaara felt so wonderful pressed up against him and they seemed to fit perfectly together. Naruto closed his eyes and savored the feel, allowing his other senses to take over, taste, touch, and even smell. Even his hearing took over.

Gaara was breathing raggedly, just like he was, his hands were clenching and unclenching tuffs of Naruto's blond hair, slightly pulling on it. Trailing his own hands down Gaara's sides to hold onto the red heads slender waist, Naruto could feel the way Gaara shuddered as shaky fingers slid under Gaara's shirt to feel the smooth flesh, making Naruto want to take this further. He scooted even closer and straddled Gaara's outstretched legs while gently lowering the red head down to the cold ground.

A slight whimper escaped from Gaara's mouth, and Naruto took the opportunity to slide his tongue into the warm mouth. Exploring and caressing Gaara's tongue with his own.

_**A/N: Here I leave it up to the reviews as to what direction the next chapter takes. In my mind I know how it will go, however if I should have any kind of review contradict my thoughts on how this relationship is going then please let me know… wait, I lost my train of thought. Oh well, maybe I will go look for it now. Extra special thanks goes out to those that reviewed this story so far, I do not often post reply's to them so please forgive me. Sometimes I forget, I do have some-timers after all…**_


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